Office Christmas Party
Cert: 16; Now showing
It’s that time of year when certain websites run ‘listicles’ prepping you on various pitfalls typical of the Christmas staff party. But snogging your floor manager or overdoing it on the mulled wine pale in comparison to the carry-on staged here by directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck, who invoke the spirits of Christmas Morning-after Regret with the mother and father of all movie office knees-ups.
We need a plot to hang the carnage on, so how about a company teetering on closure? The always likeable Jason Bateman will do very nicely as Josh, a down-on-hisluck executive at IT firm Zenotek. Dissolute branch manager Clay (TJ Miller) has inherited leadership of the firm but a bad third quarter has him under the cosh of fire-breathing CEO and sister Carol (Jennifer Aniston, in peak condition). They might just be able to change her mind on mass redundancies if a big investor can be wooed. And where better to show them a good time than at a sprawling festive bash filled with unhinged staff who may have caught wind of possible lay-offs.
While Xerox machines get defiled, contraband is dropped in the snowblower and office dullards generally show their true colours, Josh and dreamy colleague Tracey (Olivia Munn) maintain enough brain function to keep an eye on the bigger picture.
It’s surprising nobody to find that Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (the writers of The Hangover) dreamt up this bawdy, bumbling romp that stretches its thin premise into 105 distracting minutes by way of character-driven asides, a great cast and some Animal House brass.
Perfect for catching a breather from the high-street shopping scrum, but not a whole lot else.