People love to dump on office parties, but when it comes to work-sponsored festivities, I tend to believe there are good times to be had if you can focus on the people rather than the icky feeling of corporate-crafted fun. The same could be said of Office Christmas Party, which, also like a real office Christmas party, is best experienced after a drink (or five).
What Office Christmas Party drops in your stocking ain’t coal, but it’s not total crap either. What a pleasant surprise! It’s more like a Starbucks giftcard: a use-and-forget-it experience that offers a brief bit of pleasure, even if there are much better cups of coffee to be had. But, hey, at least this gift is wrapped up nicely with a stacked roster of talent seemingly pulling from a best-of list of television’s funniest people.
Jennifer Aniston seems to delight in playing an ass-kicking evil boss, T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley) is the lovable slacker he always is, and Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn have all the chemistry of… Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn — but the supporting cast really steals the show and makes Office Christmas Party a passable option for a few dumb laughs this holiday season.
SNL’s Vanessa Bayer and Fresh Off The Boat’s Randall Park’s office party flirtations might not elicit a chuckle in the hands of less capable comedians, but here the back-and-forth in their brief scenes of awkward workplace romance (or lack thereof) result in some of Office Christmas Party’s most laugh-out-loud moments. Also see: the angel-devil bipolarity of Jillian Bell (Workaholics) as a foul-mouthed pimp, Fortune Feimster (The Mindy Project) as a new Uber driver, Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters) as the uptight HR person with a Kia minivan, and a couple of scenes with Veep very-funny-guys Matt Walsh (Upright Citizens Brigade) and Sam Richardson.
The premise, like most of Office Christmas Party, is pretty brainless: Convince a big client the company culture at Zenotek (which I’m assuming is meant to sound at least a little like Initech) is worth a hoot by throwing a massive last-minute holiday shindig to win the aformentioned client's business and thus save the branch from being shuttered. Why or how a rowdy office rager is going to win over this perspective client (played by Courtney B. Vance from The People v. O. J. Simpson) doesn’t really make sense or matter as it’s just an excuse to engage in some low-hanging, R-rated adults-partying-like-they’re-still-kids comedy fruit, a la Bad Moms or Sisters.
The affair becomes less festive and feels more forced as we overstay our welcome at this Office Christmas Party by about 20 minutes, but it still ends up being an outing you’re likely to not regret attending — especially considering the lack of light, non-Star Wars new releases between now and the holiday.
—Eric Pulsifer
What Office Christmas Party drops in your stocking ain’t coal, but it’s not total crap either. What a pleasant surprise! It’s more like a Starbucks giftcard: a use-and-forget-it experience that offers a brief bit of pleasure, even if there are much better cups of coffee to be had. But, hey, at least this gift is wrapped up nicely with a stacked roster of talent seemingly pulling from a best-of list of television’s funniest people.
Jennifer Aniston seems to delight in playing an ass-kicking evil boss, T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley) is the lovable slacker he always is, and Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn have all the chemistry of… Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn — but the supporting cast really steals the show and makes Office Christmas Party a passable option for a few dumb laughs this holiday season.
SNL’s Vanessa Bayer and Fresh Off The Boat’s Randall Park’s office party flirtations might not elicit a chuckle in the hands of less capable comedians, but here the back-and-forth in their brief scenes of awkward workplace romance (or lack thereof) result in some of Office Christmas Party’s most laugh-out-loud moments. Also see: the angel-devil bipolarity of Jillian Bell (Workaholics) as a foul-mouthed pimp, Fortune Feimster (The Mindy Project) as a new Uber driver, Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters) as the uptight HR person with a Kia minivan, and a couple of scenes with Veep very-funny-guys Matt Walsh (Upright Citizens Brigade) and Sam Richardson.
The premise, like most of Office Christmas Party, is pretty brainless: Convince a big client the company culture at Zenotek (which I’m assuming is meant to sound at least a little like Initech) is worth a hoot by throwing a massive last-minute holiday shindig to win the aformentioned client's business and thus save the branch from being shuttered. Why or how a rowdy office rager is going to win over this perspective client (played by Courtney B. Vance from The People v. O. J. Simpson) doesn’t really make sense or matter as it’s just an excuse to engage in some low-hanging, R-rated adults-partying-like-they’re-still-kids comedy fruit, a la Bad Moms or Sisters.
The affair becomes less festive and feels more forced as we overstay our welcome at this Office Christmas Party by about 20 minutes, but it still ends up being an outing you’re likely to not regret attending — especially considering the lack of light, non-Star Wars new releases between now and the holiday.
—Eric Pulsifer
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