Review of Office Christmas Party (2016) by Rangan R — 01 Jun 2017

Usually, around Christmas time, you get movies of the season that are either overly wholesome or crude. Since the release of "Bad Santa" back in 2003, Christmas time has been the perfect time for these crude holiday films. I guess it is a perfect way to de-stress from the horrors buying gifts, lasting through your own work hell, and trying to be "in the spirit" of the season when there are so many assholes ruining it. So what "Office Christmas Party" is for is just the right amount of escapism with no brain. This is just for laughs.. not deep introspective into the world around you.

Positives.

The film is really just like your "Office Space", "Waiting", and "Bad Santa" but with a little of every film mixed in; tech company in Chicago is losing money, they need a big deal to make ends meet, and the CEOs hate each other. The plot is simple and it works. You believe the company will go under unless they make the "biggest deal of their lives" so what you really want to see is the mayhem of the party and boy... do you. You gotta give it up for T.J. Miller and Jennifer Aniston. Their twisted love/hate family relationship is enjoyable and Jennifer Aniston is a total riot when she is allowed to be mean and free. T.J. Miller is more like his Silicon Valley character but with more heart, as he is trying to save the company from his sister, played by Jennifer Aniston, so his childlike antics sell very well as he IS the party.

Negatives.

The film is dumb and not very deep so you won't find god or anything with this film. It can be predictable at times and you can see the setups coming ahead of schedule. But the point of them is to make you laugh and it does so very well. You do end up seeing characters that deserved more time fall by the wayside, an example is Rob Corddry customer service manager character. Corddry is classic and can do a lot more with characters but since the focus is on 4 other characters his time to show is lessened but when he is on, he hits it right.

Overall.

"Office Christmas Party" is a dumb, silly movie about a company going under and the massive party to impress a would-be investor. The laughs are there on several occasions and this really a popcorn stuffing film. You get what you pay for and whenever this comes on tv, you might see yourself catching a few minutes of laughs here in there.

"Office Christmas Party" Score Card.

Rating: 3/5.

Entertaining: Yes.

"Drop Everything" Factor: No.

Rewatchable: When on TBS, yes.