Directed by: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Written by: Justin Malen, Laura Solon, Dan Mazer
Cast: Jason Bateman, T.J. Miller, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, Kate McKinnon
Swift shot: You haven’t been to an office Christmas party like this before . . . no one has and lived to talk about it! With a team of writers longer than my Christmas stocking, this comedy gets a bit contrived. It was funny, but it took awhile for me to really appreciate it. If you have lots of patience, you’ll enjoy the payoff . . . however preposterous it might be.
Clay Vanstone (Miller) is a rich kid who never grew up. He has a remarkable inheritance, but he misses his dad and wants to make sure he keeps his legacy intact as a giving boss. Truth be told, his dad was a larger-than-life character who was everything to Clay. Clay’s sister, Carol (Aniston) had a different upbringing. While Clay and her dad were always very tight, Carol was the book smart, head down daughter who never felt appreciated by dear old dad. There was one thing he did leave her though, an interim CEO position of the company.
Carol has decided it is time to teach her brother a lesson and has given him impossible quarter-end results to meet as a pretext to decimate Clay’s branch in Chicago. To prove she is serious, she shuts down the entire Orlando branch . . . just days before Christmas. Carol is a bit Grinch and a bit Scrooge. But she packs a lethal combination of looks and the ability to take anyone out with just her hands. In short, she’s not someone you want to fuck with in the boardroom, bedroom, or a bar room!
Perhaps just to toy with Clay, Carol agrees to let him try to save the 40% of staff she insists he fire (again, days before Christmas) by landing a huge account with Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), who represents a large client that would assure the quarter-end goals are surpassed. A quick sit-down with Walter reveals that he’s going with a different company. No deal.
In a last ditch effort to save everyone’s jobs, Clay and his straight-man, Josh (Bateman) decide to throw a Christmas party at the office to entice Walter to sign this huge deal. Thing is, Carol, who for some reason is flying out instead of sticking around to see her brother fail, has expressly forbid having a Christmas party. Oh no!
Josh is dealing with his own issues, after finalizing his divorce and navigating a tricky relationship at work where he’s afraid to really make a move on his hot assistant, Tracey (Munn). She is as smart as she is gorgeous though, and has grown tired of Josh’s diffidence. He’s a sheep, she’s a wolf, and she has an idea she thinks will save the company too. But, it’s just a theory . . . something she’s been toying with for four years, actually.
Office Christmas Party was inspired by an SNL sketch and is full of SNL players, as you’d expect. Also as you’d expect, Kate McKinnon as the head of HR steals the film, easily! And they actually developed her character better than that crappy shell person in Ghostbusterettes. Vanessa Bayer, Rob Corddry, Randall Park, and Karan Soni provide some solid laughs as their antics weave fairly seamlessly into the plot and story.
That’s all the story you need to know, because, let’s face it, you want to hear about the party, not the bullshit build up to throwing a killer party to save your job. Isn’t that everyone’s dream at Christmas?
There are drugs, there is sex, there is a lot of sex, and did I mention sex? There is plenty of nudity, some novel use of modern technology to preserve the memories that the staff would probably rather forget. There are farm animals, there are Russian gangsters, there are prostitutes, there are car chases. Sadly, there wasn’t enough Aniston!
If you are looking for The Hangover meets Scrooged and SNL, Office Christmas Party is probably for you.
