When interim CEO Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) tries to close down her brother Clay's (TJ Miller) branch down, he is given an ultimatum. Clay has to seal a potential client before Christmas. To do so, he requires the help of Josh (Jason Bateman) as well as other members of the workforce to throw a wild Christmas party to seal the deal.
'Office Christmas Party' gathers up a fairly impressive ensemble cast, with some of the individual performances being the saving grace of the film. Jennifer Aniston is fantastic in her role where she takes no crap from anybody. Aniston's character is brutal, bringing some of the films best moments with her cynicism. Kate McKinnon continues to impress me as she got funnier as the film went on. TJ Miller also shines as the man-child boss who just wants to have fun and be like his father. Courtney B Vance is up there with Aniston for the best performance as he goes all out in this film. Once he is allowed to let loose, he truly does so delivering very well. The cast features some other members who do fine in their roles but nothing spectacular like Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn. The two do are fairly grounded though compared to everyone else which was a fairly good contrast.
Although there are some good characters that really help the film, there are a few that are so bad that they really hurt this film. Rob Corddry had no good moments in this film as all he did was scream random things that were painfully unfunny. The film continued to do this which made it hard to watch at times. There are a couple of others but I feel that they were given the short end of the stick when it came to some of the writing of the film that gave them no chance. And that is what holds this film from being a good comedy. The jokes and story aren't consistent enough to sustain a feature-length movie. The film has its moments for sure but there isn't anything that really stands out. There are a lot of poor moments throughout the film which balances out the good.
The antics in the film most certainly are fairly wild but if you have seen the trailer, you have seen the main bulk of them. The scenes in the trailer such as trying to swing from the lights and the vending machine are about as wild as the party gets. The film wants to throw the most kick-ass Christmas party but it just doesn't seem that fun. You don't sit there in the audience like "I wish my work would do something like that" like the film hopes you would. Mainly because most of the things are highly illegal which gives no stakes to the film. You don't believe that anything will end up turning bad due to what has happened throughout the film. Even from early on, we see that these characters can just do what they want without consequence. This doesn't help the film as you know everything will just fall into place.
In saying that, the film isn't boring and is fairly entertaining. Is this a new Christmas Classic? No, but it is an adequate comedy that will bring some laughs and is a good watch just for switching your brain off. There are aspects to enjoy throughout the film and it is nowhere near as bad as most of the comedies this year. It's not one to rush out and see but possibly give it a chance when it appears on TV.
Final Verdict =
So have you seen 'Office Christmas Party'? If so, what did you think of the film? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the movie. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!
By Angus McGregor
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