“It’s not a Christmas party. It’s a non-denominational holiday mixer…”
I’ve spoken in previous years about how all the sugary sweet, sentimental Christmas films eventually make me want to vomit tinsel. Well that isn’t really a thing this year. I would actually welcome some of that. I’m now getting tired of all these bro holiday films that try and pretend that Christmas films are cool. They aren’t. They are supposed to be shitty. Office Christmas Party has its moments but ultimately it is just a rehash of The Night Before or Four Christmases whilst sadly, not being quite as good as either.
Clay Vanstone (TJ Miller) is heir to a vast fortune but when his sister (Jennifer Aniston) is made CEO over him, his own branch is threatened with closure. To save the day, Vanstone and his right hand man Josh (Jason Bateman) throw a lavish Christmas party in an attempt to entice a high profile client. You may have noticed that I haven’t specified what business they conduct at this branch. That is because large swathes of the film are so forgettable that I actually can’t remember what they do. Even though I only finished watching Office Christmas Party minutes before writing this review. Wait, what film was this again? I don’t even care any more.
Whether you like Office Christmas Party or not will depend on what you think of the cast because basically you have Jason Bateman playing Jason Bateman, TJ Miller playing TJ Miller and then a bunch of American comedy actors all playing themselves too. Luckily, I’m a big fan of many of those involved but while I enjoyed the improvisation of those actors, the story is predictable, contrived and bone headed. Elsewhere, Jennifer Aniston proves to be a bad choice playing against type as an antagonist and Olivia Munn is given nothing to do except provide a vague love interest for Jason Bateman.
Office Christmas Party isn’t terrible but ultimately it suffers from the same pitfalls as an actual office Christmas party; it’s too long, you know its going to end badly and you regret it straight after…