[yasr_overall_rating]
When his uptight CEO sister threatens to shut down his branch, the branch manager throws an epic Christmas party in order to land a big client and save the day, but the party gets way out of hand…
“Office Christmas Party” tries desperately to invoke the adult raunchy comedies of the 1980s, movies like “Bachelor Party,” “Porky’s,” and “Hot Moves,” but tries so hard, it gives itself a hernia. With a who’s who of terrific comedic actors, sadly they are wasted as the story is just too formulaic and the characters too bland, for anybody to care about them or their predicaments, and believe me, the entire film is overflowing with them. The title should have been “Office Christmas Quandary,” at least that would have been closer to summing up the entire movie.
Clay Vanstone (T.J. Miller) and his sister Carol (Jennifer Aniston), inherited their late father’s company Zenotek, after his passing, and with Carol being assigned the position of CEO, Clay is given the job of director for the company’s Chicago branch. Clay likes to party and has a difficult time trying to do or take anything seriously but he cares about his people and gives them bonuses every Christmas. When Carol drops by unexpectedly a few days before the holidays, she informs Clay and his Chief Technical Officer Josh (Jason Bateman), that she is closing down the branch due to their poor fourth quarter earnings. Clay begs for one last chance to prove themselves by stating they will close the account of a big potential client, Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), worth millions of dollars, before the end of the day. Carol laughs them off but gives them their opportunity. When she finds out that a Christmas party had been planned, she shuts it down, stating they don’t have the money but when she leaves the office, London-bound, Clay decides not just to put the party back on, but to make it the biggest party ever, in order to impress Walter. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan and everything that could go wrong, does. Now it is up to Clay and Josh to close the deal with Walter and fix everything else before Carol finds out.
The premise is wholly unoriginal but I can overlook that, nearly every film we watch has been recycled in some form or another but how creative and imaginative the filmmakers are, depends on how good the finished product will be. Unfortunately, imagination and creativity are thrown out the window, along with many of the vending machines populated throughout the movie. From the get-go, we know what’s happening, when the branch is threatened with closure, everyone must band together in order to make it work but we also know that by the end of the film, everything will work out so there’s never really any tension. And therein lies the problem. Why not go the unconventional route? Why not let things fall apart instead of wrapping everything up nice and neat with a Christmas bow on top? Had they traveled that route, the film surely would have taken everyone by surprise and could have only made it better by comparison, but seeing that we are almost at Christmas ourselves, the filmmakers probably felt that we needed a happy ending. And it’s nice to see that we are not being pandered to, after all, it is rated “R” for “Crude Sexual Content and Language Throughout, Drug Use and Graphic Nudity,” last I checked, that meant adults over the age of 17, who can make up their own minds.
It’s the end of the year and many of the studios dump their remnants leading up to the holidays before starting fresh in the New Year but it is also coming up to awards season so it would be very unfair to lump this travesty in with some truly remarkable films out there. With so many talented writers in Hollywood, filled with great stories and ambition, just begging for the opportunity to prove themselves, I can’t help but feel saddened, that we are continuously being bombarded with mediocrity, when all it takes, is for one of them to break through and show the world what they’ve been missing. Maybe next time.
In theaters Friday, December 9th
