Office Christmas Party (2016)

User Review

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  TheMovieDiorama

  5 / 10

  Office Christmas Party continues the annual trend of drunken shenanigans during the holiday season. It's literally what you expect it to be. An office Christmas party where it goes slightly chaotic towards the end (like all parties should do). The company that our characters work for is undergoing some radical changes by the manager's sibling who is a CEO filled with tyranny and bitterness. In order to save the company, they come up with a plan of throwing a Christmas party for a rich prospect. As always though, things get out of hand. I will say this, it's perfectly enjoyable and fine to watch. Yet the same issues occur with the likes of "The Night Before" and "A Bad Mom's Christmas" where it just feels too random with no focus on a cohesive plot. Don't get me wrong, watching a drugged up man swing from a balcony holding onto Christmas lights is a good time. Even the malicious CEO cursing and destroying the Christmas magic in front of a little girl is amusing. However, when the characters and plot are so bland and formulaic you can't help but feel disconnected. It's another case of random scenes are strung together to gross you out or make you laugh, seemingly more fit into the former category. That, for me, does not make a coherent narrative. Not to mention the various office employees that the plot tried to incorporate. A newly hired worker who has a fetish, a boss who hires a prostitute for the night, an employee who pretends (badly!) to be a DJ...a plethora of minor characters, not enough focus on a substantial plot. If you like your comedies random, then you are sure to like this. Oh, then the typical conclusion arrives where everything is fantastic again. Yay. Merry Christmas. Jason Bateman plays the same character in everything, Olivia Munn was the funniest, Jennifer Aniston was surprisingly good and TJ Miller was fine to watch. The acting was just fine. A few witty lines from the script, but most of the comedic moments are visual. Like I said, it's a fine film but an utterly forgettable one due to its lack of structure and infrequent laughs.

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