I haven’t been a huge fan of recent comedy films. There are a few I’ve enjoyed, but mostly they blur together in a mess of pop culture references, gross-out humor, and lazy sexual innuendo. This is exactly what I expected of Office Christmas Party, and that’s exactly what the movie delivered. However, there were a couple performances that made the film at least mildly entertaining.
Office Christmas Party follows a group of employees at a data storage company-specifically Josh (Jason Bateman), Tracey (Olivia Munn), and Clay (T.J. Miller), whose father started the company- in their effort to woo a potential client (Courtney B. Vance) to prevent their branch from being shut down. Their method: throw the most amazing office Christmas party, despite the strict instructions not to do so given by the company’s CEO- Clay’s sister Carol (Jennifer Aniston). As anyone who has seen the trailers would expect, the extravagant affair quickly devolves into a near-bacchanalian revel.
One of my biggest issues with this movie was one that I’ve had with several comedies that have come out over the past few years: it dates itself. It makes pop culture references that might be funny when the movie comes out (and even that is debatable), but will be irrelevant within a year. At the beginning, a character shows Josh his family Christmas card, where he, his wife, and kids are dressed up as One Direction (aren’t they technically broken up now? Was the scene filmed before that happened?). During a meeting, a disgruntled employee complains about the internet’s obsession with Grumpy Cat (which I’m pretty sure stopped being a relevant meme at least two years ago). During a prayer, Clay asks God to let Prince and David Bowie know how important they were to everyone, referencing specific celebrity deaths that happened THIS YEAR. It’s a nice sentiment, and the shout-out earned a few chuckles from the audience, but even a year from now, this reference will have no context. Having so many jokes that rely so heavily on current pop culture means the humor will fall flat after a very short amount of time.
My second biggest issue with this movie was Jason Bateman’s character. Not Jason himself-he’s a talented actor who performed well with what he was given-but his bland, middle-aged white guy with the same non-personality as countless other recent comedy; the straight man to the cast of wacky characters. Despite technically being the main character, he could have easily been removed from the film and we wouldn’t lose anything. This movie could have been a lot better if it focused more on Clay trying to run the branch and prove to his sister that he’s capable of being more than just a goofball. T.J. Miller seems capable of handling a bigger role; he was easily the highlight of the movie, and as hilarious as he is, he has a couple genuinely touching moments that show he’s able to do some serious acting. Kate McKinnon was another highlight as Mary, the socially awkward stick-in-the-mud H.R. representative; true, it feels like a character from an SNL skit, but her performance was still fantastic.
I wouldn’t recommend seeing this in theaters, just because it is so forgettable. If you’re a fan of the cast, it might be worth checking it out on Netflix or whatever other streaming service it ends up on, but there’s no reason to catch it on the big screen.
Have you seen ‘Office Christmas Party’? Well, what did you think?
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Bateman plays that same character very well in so many movies. Pity thr character needed work. Shame this film sounds disappointing too.
I like Bateman too Alex, even when he’s sort of playing the same types of character.
Laura, sounds like this is like the same tired, ‘ol schtick that Hollywood tries to market as *comedy*, I’ll be skipping this one even as a rental.
It would be nice to see him do something different. He was good in Juno.
I feel like certain actors just settled (or stuck) into a certain style of acting, but yeah I do think he’s capable of more dramatic work.
Agreed! He did a great job in Juno.
Yeah, I think he’s been typecast, which is unfortunate because he is talented. Hopefully he’ll get some meatier roles eventually.
You know when I saw the trailer, I knew that all of the funny bits have already been shown. Similar to Horrible Bosses, the trailer looked hilarious but when I saw the actual movie, I realized all of the funny parts were in the trailer! So I’ll skip this one.
I agree that Bateman is a good actor and it’s a shame that he’s been typecast in these kind of comedies for like a decade now. I wish he’d choose to star in more smart comedies like his show Arrested Development but then again Hollywood afraid to make anything original or smart for many of their intended audiences.
When I saw the trailer, I thought it was a Horrible Boxes movie just because the humor and casting were so similar! Yeah, Bateman is great in Arrested Development, and he’s had other movie roles that have been good, but it seems like more often than not he’s stuck in the same part.
Bosses. Not boxes! Hahaha.
Mwahahaha, I laughed when I saw that. Good one Laura 😉
This is sounds exactly as I thought it would. A big meh. I’ll check it out on Netflix, thanks for saving me a couple of dollars for the movie ticket!
Haha, glad to save you a little money! Yeah, if you’re bored and it’s on Netflix it might be worth playing in the background but that’s about it.
I saw it when i needed to pass some time and it did that.
Yeah, that’s exactly what it does. It’s not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t memorable. It was just something to watch on a Monday night.
It’s such a shame, I think it’s a good idea for a Christmas movie, but when it’s not good enough to rush to the cinema for, and too ‘2016 relevant’ to be funny in years to come, there doesn’t seem to be a good time to watch it!
– Allie
Same! I think the concept has potential, especially if it had focused on the sibling rivalry a little more, but oh, well.. And yeah, having so many year-specific references AT THE END of the year seems like bad planning!
Nice one Laura and I can’t say I’m surprised. This looked like a stinker.
Thanks, Keith! Yeah, not the best movie. I hope to see T.J. Miller in more stuff though!
Not really familiar w/ TJ Miller, but I thought he was funny in Deadpool. I think he might be in the sequel?
This was the first thing I’d seen him in, but I really enjoyed his performance. My cousin, who was my plus one, said he was really good in Silicon Valley. And he’s going to be in the movie adaptation of Ready Player One, which is one of my favorite books, so I’m excited to see him in that.
I certainly haven’t watched this and Laura’s well written burial of it ain’t gonna entice me! There’s too many great films I still haven’t seen from 2016 – I’ll leave this one!
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