Office Christmas Party (2016)

A lot of talented new and not so new actors and comedians appear in this and like a lot of movies with too many people in it, none get to do much. The set up takes a long time to build to the party but the set up is better than the pay off. It's just a formless mess by that point, the "jokes" become every character dropping the F bomb and most of the slapstick doesn't work.

Is that really still funny? How many years of R rated movies have we seen and R rated comedies? Jason Bateman gamely goes the distance playing straight man. Aniston does a one note version of her previously funnier, mean heartless bitch roles in Horrible Bosses--only there is not twist or reason for it, other than that the movie needs a villain--I guess.

It's just not very clever or funny. Only Courtney B. Vance manages to make his obvious part funny. I suppose this may be a little harsh there are chuckles here and there but it never really takes off and the "story" and resolution are both obvious and confusing. You never get any sense that this office of people give a crap about each other or their jobs--but then we are asked to root for them?

Of course there is also a fair amount of what should be black humor but only little bits of this work the rest just seem kind of ugly. This movie will try everything to see what works but not much does. A lot of fake looking snow in the film which has a flat video look to it as well. You'll just wish that all these good actors had something genuinely funny or original to do--but if that's your Christmas wish this movie won't fulfill it. You really need a script and a sense of direction---from the directors. Oh there's a guy in a sheep costume too, I give it a 3 instead of a 2 because of that.

Fmovies: I'd never have rented this based on the blurb, and for the past few weeks I ignored it on Netflix. But tonight I gave it the 10-minute test. Ended up glued to the tube. This is the sleeper of the season for Netflix holiday comedy offerings, that might be especially made for SNL fans. If you like movies like 'Rare Imports' and 'Get Santa', take this American offering for a test drive.

A slow start, a bit clunky on the early ensemble work, but brother when it hits its stride it is meta-hysterical. During the run-up to the bridge, with the glorious Christmas anthem in full orchestral splendor, I damned near stopped breathing. The outtakes after the credits are a mni-van full of wit and sass.

***RATED R AND EARNS IT!!! (there is some really gross stuff in this but they don't dwell on any of it; I've heard the amazing comedic cast improv'd a lot).

Not suitable for Family watching.

The studios have been in a recent pattern of putting out some really disappointing "comedies," "Hail, Caesar" and "Masterminds" spring to mind first, and you can add "Office Christmas Party" to the list.

Potentially a great cast, an "R" rating which means they don't have to restrain the writing, and..............DUD. Especially with an "R" rating, I fully expect to have more than a few burst-out-laughing moments, that's not the case with this one.

A Human Resources person who runs around spouting company policies? Yeah, surprise....we never saw anything like that before. Really, ummm, funny. The odd thing was, when there was something that was genuinely funny, the audience we were with seemed afraid to laugh. When one character curses out a child at the airport, instead of laughing (because it's supposed to be a COMEDY, folks!), they were horrified. Oh well.

There's a few chuckles but mostly low-key humor dominating this film and that's all I got out of it. You'd be better off waiting for it to come to cable.

Office Christmas Party fmovies. Well, where do I begin with this? A comedy about office politics? Geez, where have I seen that before? If you're going to make a comedy movie these days, make it high concept, and if you can't, at least make it funny. Office Christmas Party commits the sin of being neither. Many film critics say this, but I haven't seen a comedy movie more deserving of this title... it's a 90-minute SNL skit.... oh wait, I'm sorry, Current SNL. It thinks it's a wild and crazy comedy, and oh boy, is it not. It plays it safe on nearly everything. It's as if Kate McKinnon's ultra-sensitive HR character directed the film. For a such a diverse cast of funny men and women, they are neutered of good material to work with. Jason Bateman is given nothing. Jennifer Aniston's character is one-note, though I'll give her credit for at least trying to make it work. Then, there's T.J. Miller. Dane Cook lite. He's currently being groomed as Hollywood's next hottest comedy star, and if he is, welcome to the dark ages. He is woefully unfunny. How did he make it out there? Why is it that so many amazing comedians, screenwriters and directors get turned down straight out of film school, and yet they give this man a shot? He gets the most screen time out of everyone here. It's quite sad actually. There are good performances in this, believe it or not. Kate McKinnon and the always funny Rob Corddry are the only two shining spots in this otherwise terrible film. I could go on, but why bother? I don't really need to, but when you spend 30 bucks for you and your friend to go see this in a theater, I feel the need to vent.

If you skip one Xmas party this year then make it Office Christmas Party.

A criminally unfunny and underdeveloped high concept comedy, trying to recapture that Hangover like tone, Blades of Glory directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck fail to ignite the spirit of Xmas with this comedy caper that brings the festive vibe, but fails to bring the laughs.

Like receiving a lump of coal in your Xmas stocking, Party offers up an interesting proposition but delivers nothing but disappointment, as a talented cast are laboured with material that should've been left in Santa's screen writing workshop as the appealing idea of a wild office party complete with outlandish shenanigans is instead overrun by a totally unappealing story of a struggling company trying to win a big contract, with added bi-polar pimps, sister/brother in-fighting and misuses of the office 3-D printer instead taking over.

It's like you're constantly waiting for the true laughs to kick in as a rather labour intensive lead up to the party hitting full swing seems to drag on for far too long then once the party actually starts we are taken away on a consistent basis to revert back to one of the films countless other side stories, it's almost as if Gordon and Speck didn't trust their core concept enough and in the end failed to even unlock any of its potential to be a festive themed riot.

Making matters worse for the film's tired scripting and plotting is a collection of equally tired performances from a well renowned cast.

Lead by the ever the same Jason Bateman (looking and acting like he couldn't care less), Party wastes the comedic talents of T.J Miller (who seems better suited to cameo like turns rather than high screen time), Jennifer Anniston, Rob Cordry and worst of all Kate McKinnon while Olivia Munn just feels out of place in the whole wild night. The cast clearly had chances to improvise a large portion of the films dialogue and situations but barely any of the films payoffs actually work and at the end of the day most of the material here is below the performers talents.

Looking to strike that cord between festive joy and raunchy comedy gold, Office Christmas Party ends up failing to find a winning balance in either denominator and with a collection of recycled jokes and confused stars, this is the worst kind of party where no one seems to be having fun other than the ones that organised the whole shebang.

½ a Kia out of 5

I was looking to watch a funny Christmas movie that isn't Elf or A Christmas Story so I gave this a chance since I really like Jason Bateman and I can say I was entertained throughout the whole thing. It's not the greatest movie ever but it checked the boxes I was looking for while watching. It's definitely stupid humor but it gave me a few good laughs