Office Christmas Party

While this film was marketed more or less as a Christmas movie (given the title) it is definitely much more of a party movie than anything else. And while party movies aren’t narrative geniuses, they are undeniably fun.

Office Christmas Party is a fun comedy starring some of the best working comedic actors of today. The story is about a tech company, whose branch in Chicago is in danger of downsizing. The Chicago branch is headed by Clay (T.J. Miller), and he has a plan to close on an important client (played by Courtney B. Vance) in order to keep his branch open from the ruthless CEO, who also happens to be his sister Carol (Jennifer Aniston).

As I mentioned in the opening, this film isn’t necessarily a screenwriting phenomenon, and most of the story is really just gearing silly excuses for crazy stunts or bizarre arcs. But the film is helped by giving a lot of free reign to its great comedians, some of which include the afore mentioned Miller and Aniston as well as Kate McKinnon, Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, and some small turns from Rob Corddry and Jillian Bell. They mostly seem to be playing him or herself, or a goofy version, but it is fun for the audience to consume nonetheless; and you can tell an insane amount of improvisation went into effect.

The film is really a string of events that sometimes hit hard with the audience and other times fall flat. Other party films have made the journey a lot smoother and sometimes with more heart and clear-cut characters; but nevertheless Office Christmas Party does it’s main job and gives you a good time.

6.4/10