OFFICE CREW FINDS MAYHEM
Chris Lackner looks at what’s ahead in pop culture as the holiday season gears up
MOVIES
Big release on Dec. 9: The Office Christmas Party. Big picture: It’s The Hangover meets The Office meets Bill Murray in the final scene of Scrooged. The Office Christmas Party is exactly what you’d expect — a movie about an office party gone wild. That means a lot of body shots, physical comedy and a variety of disturbing St. Nicks, from skanky Santa to rapping Santa. Hangover style, we get an early glimpse of what’s left of the office in the aftermath of this holiday bash.
It looks like 25 frat parties were held in it simultaneously — all chaired by U.S. Olympian swimmer Ryan Lochte — and then Charlie Sheen hand-picked the debauched rubble to host an epic bachelor party. Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Olivia Munn and Ghostbuster standout Kate McKinnon co-star. If you like your office parties with reindeer drinking out of the toilet (and let’s be honest: Who doesn’t?), then this seasonal comedy is for you. Forecast: I predict (a.k.a. hope) that the original Clark Griswold will make a profanity- and eggnog-laced party cameo about the “Hap happiest Christmas” and Danny Kaye.
TV
Big events: Hairspray Live! (Dec. 7, NBC, 8). Big picture: Hairspray Live! Is NBC’s latest live musical event featuring the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande and Martin Short. Forecast: This TV musical thing is really catching on. Speaking of Danny Kaye, I’m predicting a 2017 remake of White Christmas called White-Black Christmas starring musical power couples Beyoncé and Jay Z, and Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman … with Robert Redford as the ex-general. (Take that, Trump America.)
Honourable mention: White Rabbit Project (Dec. 9, Netflix). This new reality show is from the producers of MythBusters. It’s like Ghostbusters meets The Big Bang Theory meets reality as three science-loving detectives investigate the strange intersection of weapons, technology, history and pop culture. Cool. Maybe they can investigate alternate universes, and figure out how we can all trade places with our doubles in the good, noncrazy universe?
MUSIC
Big release on Dec. 9: Neil Young (Peace Trail). Big picture: Canada’s grumpy folk-rock troubadour is already protesting — and this album was recorded long before the U.S. election. Young recently said the president-elect was “like water on the garden of activism.” Who knows what musical flowers might bloom?
As for the Peace Trail, humanitarian concerns and social issues dominate the lyrics on this largely acoustic album, which features 10 stripped-down tracks and was recorded in only four days. The track I’m most curious about is My New Robot — mainly because I’ve always hoped for a reality show starring Young and a robot named Rust called Rust Never Sleeps. The album’s first single, Peace Trail, includes the lyrics “I think I’ll hit the peace trail / I know that treasure takes its time.” How much time? Have you got four years? Forecast: Young won’t be playing Trump’s inauguration. Maybe the Republicans can hire Audrey, the plant from Little Shop of Horrors?