Office Christmas Party is yet another comedy with an amazing, and mostly proven, cast (Aniston is probably the standout) that fails due to a screenplay that lacked consistent laughs and features an absolutely cringe-worthy finale.
Office Christmas Party
(2016)
Genre(s): Comedy
Paramount | R/Unrated – 105 min. / 110 min. – $39.99 | April 4, 2017
Date Published: 04/04/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 2.0/5 |
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Plot Outline: When overbearing CEO Carol Vanstone (JENNIFER ANISTON) decides to close hard-partying brother Clay’s (T.J. MILLER) failing branch, he and his fired-up co-workers — Josh (JASON BATEMAN), Tracey (OLIVIA MUNN), Trina (JILLIAN BELL), Jeremy (ROB CORDDRY), Allison (VANESSA BAYER), et al — decide to throw an epic office party to land big shot client Walter Davis (COURTNEY B. VANCE) and save everyone’s job. Fueled by booze and bad decisions, things quickly spiral out of control.
Quick Hit Review: Going in, I didn’t exactly have high expectations for this ensemble raunchy Christmas movie and… it did kind of meet that low bar. Office Christmas Party actually starts off well enough as I did manage to laugh a few times though I think it was less the jokes and more how this comedically talented delivered those lines. But once the actual party starts it’s pretty much downhill and by act three, it was off the rails and not in a good way. As I said, it’s really the cast that keeps this somewhat afloat but even with them, you’re really not getting anything new: Bateman is sarcastic, Miller is the life of the party, McKinnon plays the weirdo (and a character better suited on Saturday Day Night Live) and Corddry the wiseass. Oh, and Munn playing some tech guru was laughable. Perhaps the only highlights are Jennifer Aniston playing a class-A bitch and have a couple genuinely funny scenes (and she still looks damn good) and, to a lesser extent, Courtney B. Vance but only because I’ve been a fan of his since his days on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Office Christmas Party was directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon whose filmography includes The Switch which explains why Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston signed on… if only they could’ve convinced Jeff Goldblum. Despite a solid cast and an easy concept, the laughs are few and far between and really come to a screeching halt in the final act which was utterly cringe-worthy. I can’t say this was a horrible experience and in fact even with my low score, I didn’t hate it but this was a one-and-done viewing for me. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
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This release comes with a title-embossed slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Audio Commentary – Directors Will Speck & Josh Gordon sit down for a light-hearted track giving background on the project and especially on the casting. Throwing an Office Christmas Party (11:51; HD) is a behind-the-scenes featurette which includes interviews by the cast and crew as they discuss the plot and characters. Outtakes (8:38; HD) – These are pretty much line-o-ramas. Deleted Scenes (2:58; HD) – There are only 5 here and do not include the ones inserted into the Unrated Cut.
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VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Paramount releases Office Christmas Party onto Blu-ray presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and a nifty 1080p high-definition transfer. Given this is a comedy things are kept light-hearted which translates well onto Blu-ray with bright colors and detail looking sharp and nicely defined throughout. There were no noticeable signs of artifacting, aliasing or other flaws. |
AUDIO – 4.25/5 |
| The studio went a bit overkill with a 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio track which doesn’t get its full usage save for some of the party sequence especially when the DJ puts on some thumping club music which switches on the LFE channel. Otherwise, this is a mostly dialogue driven film that comes through the center speaker nicely enough. |
OVERALL – 2.5/5 |
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Overall, Office Christmas Party is yet another comedy with an amazing, and mostly proven, cast (Aniston is probably the standout) that fails due to a screenplay that lacked consistent laughs and features an absolutely cringe-worthy finale. The Blu-ray released by Paramount offers good video/audio transfers and a disappointing selection of bonus material. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.