When I saw the prompt for this week, this movie was all I could think of. Though I watched it about eight years ago when it was released, it still happens to be the best I've seen so far since then. I even had to search for the title of the film by including Jason Bateman as one of the cast in the movie because I had forgotten the name of the movie.
OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY is the most honest movie title in it's year of release because it's exactly what you get. A big, long, raunchy party that spends almost the entire running time of the movie.
OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY was exactly what I hoped for. A simple story with many laughs, a lot of funny people and great comedic timing. And also a little bit of that good old holiday spirit.
Josh Gordon and Will Speck create this own little universe and they populate it with many cool characters and as unbelievable as it sounds there wasn't a single person in the movie I didn't like. It's a big ensemble cast with four main protagonists and a lot of side characters. Jason Bateman plays the most normal person, the reasonable mind in the office, which is led by the goofball Clay, played by TJ Miller.
Clay's sister Carol is this uptight CEO, who threatens to shut down the branch. Jennifer Anderson is perfect for the role. The fourth one is Tracy, portrayed by Olivia Munn.
She's the beautiful, intelligent nerd, who has a brilliant new idea for the firm and she and Bateman's character are also kind of a thing. I said the story is simple, so here it is. In order to save the branch and the jobs of dozens of employees, Clay and Josh need to impress a big client by throwing the most epic Christmas party ever.
Everything starts to go haywire at the office when Clay's sister, Carol, who's also Xenotech's interim CEO, following the death of their father, threatens to not only shut down the branch, but also demands that the end of the year mixer be canceled.
Of course, the latter demand is ignored when Josh and Clay plan on throwing the best office party in history, in order to try and seal the deal with Courtney B. Vance's Walter Davis, who works for a company that could partner with Xenotech and save the Chicago branch.
Like it always does, everything quickly starts to spiral out of control, when drugs, alcohol and the impending possibility of unemployment takes control of all the employees at the party.
Kate McKinnon; one of my favorites casts in the movie, shines as HR head Mary, whose constant nervous ticks and penchant for trying to minimize as many offensive interactions between employees as possible, garners some of the film's biggest laughs. Her character really did a great job in almost killing me with uncontrollable laughter.
Jillian Bell seemingly pops up out of nowhere as Trina, a pimp who sets her sights on Miller's Clay, and who brandishes her handgun around to hilarious effects at times.
It's like the hangover meets PROJECT X. And it's a lot of fun. Most jokes hit, the timing is great and the movie is just stuffed with comedians, who know how to deliver and how to work on each other's strength. Also the movie looks kind of nice and cozy and while it's so over the top, the characters, at least some of them, keep some kind of grounding in reality.
Their emotions feel real, you really do believe that Clay, as eccentric as he is, cares for his people. The little love story between Josh and Tracy is quite charming and again, they are surrounded by a lot of comedic talent. Kate McKinnon, who I couldn't care less for in GHOSTBUSTERS, is great.
As a weird political correctness enforcer? Sorry, I have no idea what the name of her job was. Rob Corddry is just always angry and completely unfiltered. Sam Richardson turns into a hilarious DJ and Vanessa Baer is just super sweet.
But by far the best in my opinion is T.J. Miller. He seems to enjoy himself so much and it fits the character and gives the movie a lot of energy. And I think it goes without saying that of course this is a R-rated comedy, with a lot of swearing, drug humor and some nudity as well.
But if you're into this sort of comedy, you will have a lot of fun. What might be a little bit better is the way the whole party escalates. I thought it went very very fast and from the beginning it's so loud and over the top.
Sure it's still funny when it gets even wilder, but a more grounded beginning could have enhanced the feeling of everything going mad even a little bit more. What also felt a little bit flat is the little adventure story in the last third and at the very end the comedy just slightly shifts to the background for the overall solution of their problem. But it was fine.
I give OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY a strong 7 out of 10. Alright, that's it. Like always comment below, let me know what you think about OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY.
