Review – Office Christmas Party

Office Christmas Party is one of those comedies where it is all about the cast.  The plot and story are all irrelevant, the love stories are useless and lame, and the movie runs too long.  But God damn, if this isn’t a cast of comedic all-stars that make this movie a blast.

When an uptight CEO (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to shut down his branch, a branch manager (T.J. Miller) throws an epic Christmas party to close a big client (Courtney B. Vance) and save the branch.  However, the party quickly gets out of hand and everyone’s jobs and lives are put at risk.

The plot is super cliché and I guarantee you can see where it is going just from the synopsis and a trailer or two.  There are a few love stories, the main one being between Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn, all that don’t matter and are just plot points for the sake of moving the movie forward.  The movie also veers off the rails a bit at the end, as the group gets caught up with a drug-dealing pimp (Jillian Bell) and a few hospital visits.  I really wish the movie focused more on the party shenanigans, as those parts were easily the best parts of the movie.  There are so many funny and interesting characters in this movie and so many wild things going on, I wish they made a raunchy, Altman-esque film that just takes place during the party and only the party as they try to close the deal and keep the office from burning down.  But, this isn’t that smart of a movie, so that’s expecting far too much.

What I did expect was this cast to deliver and boy, do they ever.  Everyone does exactly what they’re known for and they do it perfectly.  Bateman rocks the straight-laced, sarcastic tone, Olivia Munn brings the quick wit, T.J. Miller brings the raunchy stupidity, Kate McKinnon continues her chameleon ways and becomes the best Human Resources lady ever, and Jillian Bell’s stone-faced insults make her the weirdest pimp ever.  We also get awesome supporting turns from Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Karan Soni, and Rob Corddry, who I wanted to see more of in the movie and has one of my favorite screenshots of the year as he sits in a Game of Thrones throne, with a Jesus wig, no pants, and Christmas lights wrapped around himself, all while holding a baby and judging a Christmas tree jousting match.  It’s one of the funniest and best images I’ve seen all year.

This isn’t the smartest movie the year and it isn’t a Christmas classic.  But Office Christmas Party does deliver on a debaucherous, rowdy, fun time that will have you laughing the entire way through.

MY RATING – 3/4

Did you see Office Christmas Party?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.