Review of Office Christmas Party (2016) by Trenton H — 24 Jan 2017

Office Christmas Party should have taken it further. If a movie is going to hang on the edge of vulgar, just take it all the way. The pieces were there, and some of the characters worked. Bateman plays a classic Batemanesque humdrum average joe, afraid to take risks. Kate McKinnon nails the HR stickler Mary to a T. T.J. Miller falls flat as the dim-witted son of the owner, Clay.

The director and writers could have benefited from studying other party films that took it there, like SuperBad or The Hangover. We get hints of the raunchiness we've come to expect with this type of film, but simply not enough.

Another issue is that at too many times the movie tries to get sentimental whether it be about losing jobs, dead family members, not being good enough, or missed romances, but in actuality there isn't a need for any of this. Take out the sad, take out the lulls, and play up the character quirks. If that had happened, this would have been a much more pleasant outing.

Special shout out to Fortune Feimster who played an Uber driver. Easily the funniest character in the movie, but way underutilized. Ultimately the concept and actors are there, but the execution leaves me with a lust for what could have been.