105 minutes, Comedy

I am not old, nor am I a grumpy person. Yet, as the end credits to this overcooked Christmas turkey rolled on by, I felt both of these things.

The set-up, which starts better than expected to make the titular OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY happen, is led by Clay (T.J. Miller), a Chicago branch Manager who learns that the company CEO (played by Jennifer Aniston) is planning to shut down his branch and axe all of its employees. Oh, and that CEO, Carol just happens to be Clay’s sister too! So just how will Clay save the day? Well, that’s where this comedy becomes every bit as average as expected.

Clay, along with his staff led by Chief Technical Officer Josh (Jason Bateman) and Engineer Tracey (Olivia Munn) conspire an epic Christmas party that quickly spirals out of control in order to acquire the signature of a prospective and significant new client (played by Courtney B. Vance).

After a brief office orientation that actually generates some laughter courtesy of its dialogue and by allowing each actor to showcase their individual comic style, OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY soon begins to drink itself into all the grossly exaggerated, mindless and annoyingly repetitive sorrows we’ve seen too many times from this genre of movie.

From the time the party is started, this mostly laugh-free comedy’s script is laced with a number of predictably set-up and outrageous scenarios depicting adults behaving badly in various ways, which are less than creatively conceived and executed. The variety of which you’ve seen recently, but only better from cousin comedy SISTERS.

Hard to fathom that an avenue to silly yet funny entertainment was quickly made redundant when you consider that the same writers who worked on the screenplay and the story behind BRIDGET JONES’S BABY, BORAT and THE HANGOVER trilogy worked on OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY.

2 out of 5 

Trailer 
OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Viewer Discretion
MA15+ – Strong crude sexual humour, drug use and nudity.
OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY also contains coarse language throughout and the nudity is graphic. 

Moviedoc wishes to thank Claire from Entertainment One, Entertainment One and The Backlot Studios for the invitation to the media screening of OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY.

Review by Moviedoc 
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