Paramount Pictures
It’s the most wonderful time of the year and Hollywood generally delivers movie audiences a few holiday-themed gifts for our viewing pleasure. We’ve already had Almost Christmas on the big screen, and now Office Christmas Party hopes to deliver some big laughs to audiences weary of all the shopping, cooking and family that Christmas usually brings.
The movie centers on Clay Vanstone (T.J. Miller), the wealthy son of a late tech company owner whose lackadaisical style of management has put his branch in jeopardy. Especially since his sister Carol (Jennifer Aniston) is the interim CEO and has an obvious chip on her shoulder over the preferential treatment always afforded to Clay. She relishes in the opportunity to shut him down, knowing it won’t hurt him financially, but making him responsible for the loss of jobs under him. With the help of Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) and Tracey Hughes (Oliva Munn), the three insist that they are thisclose to landing the elusive Davis account. Carol agrees that if they land the account — by the end of the day — the branch is safe.
Which means the three have to hastily arrange a meeting with Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), who seems to be having a really bad day but an invite to the office Christmas party, which Carol had cancelled, may just be the way to win over Davis, who values a real family atmosphere in his business dealings. Unfortunately, when the employees find out they’re on the verge of losing their jobs, anything goes making this a party no one will ever forget.
Last year, the holiday season brought us the disarmingly sweet The Night Before in which the characters endured a bad night of partying before all was good again, and Office Christmas Party follows that same pattern. No matter how bad things get, we know all will be well with the world by the end so it’s imperative for the filmmakers, the writers and the cast to get everything else before the end just right. For the most part, everyone involved does just that even if most of the cast is doing exactly what we expect them to do.
Case in point: Jason Bateman. With he and Aniston in this film, you can be forgiven for thinking this is actually Horrible Bosses 3. Bateman plays the exact same guy he plays in just about every movie he’s in, but he does it so well that you can’t really fault the guy. He has to be the one person the average viewer identifies with, and that’s why Bateman gets hired. I don’t have a problem with that because unlike Melissa McCarthy’s often unpleasant character that she does from film to film, Bateman is likable and grounded, someone you’d want to be friends with.
Aniston, after years of playing good girl Rachel on Friends, has managed to branch out into more unsavory characters, and her she plays the perfect bitch, for lack of a better word. It’s not that she’s a woman in a powerful position that makes her mean, it’s the disdain she has for her brother and the disregard she has for everyone else that makes her a bitch. I really liked Aniston in this role, watching her facial expressions telling us exactly how Carol is feeling on the inside when not actually verbalizing those feelings. She’s definitely the villain, but she gets a few good laughs too.
Paramount Pictures
If you’ve ever seen T.J. Miller in anything, like Bateman, he’s playing that same T.J. Miller character, brash, annoying, somewhat of a man-child who has to grow up by the end of the movie. In his first big lead role opposite the heavy-hitters of Bateman and Aniston, along with some real pros as co-stars (Kate McKinnon, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park), Miller does a fine job of walking that thin line between being a spoiled brat and someone who has real compassion for those who work for him (he buys each employee a personalized gift instead of just getting gift cards).
Paramount Pictures
Two cast members really steal the show. McKinnon does what she does best on Satruday Night Live as Mary, the head of HR. She always has the nervousness to her voice, like she’s about to snap, if everyone doesn’t follow her rules of office conduct. Mary is a tightly wound rubber band ready to snap, and just watching McKinnon contain that energy while using her patented “crazy eyes” method of acting give the movie many of its funniest moments. The biggest surprise, however, is Courtney B. Vance, last seen on television as Johnnie Cochran in The People vs. O.J. Simpson. Vance has done action and drama in the past, but I don’t recall seeing him doing flat out comedy but he pulls it off. Vance’s Davis is the staid businessman who really does not fit in at the out of control party, but once incident unleashes his inner party animal and Vance runs with it, fearlessly.
Directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck, who last worked with Bateman and Aniston in 2010’s The Switch, keep the story moving along at a brisk pace. The script’s final act has a bit of a contrivance to help set everything right again, and leaves one wondering just who will be held responsible for the incident in the first place, but overall Office Christmas Party is funny enough to wash away those holiday blues for a couple of hours.
Share this post
