“Office Christmas Party” isn’t a deep film. It’s not that original, either. It’s a prototypical raunchy comedy filled with archetypes to mine humor from. The archetypes are portrayed by familiar faces to give them credence and the prototypical comedy is anchored by a “save the company” plot. You’ve seen this all before and probably better elsewhere. That doesn’t mean this variation isn’t without merit.
The prototype on display in “Office Christmas Party” finds Zenotek (which is the most 90s sounding company name I’ve ever heard) under massive renovations. Interim CEO Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) is closing branches left and right, her sights now set on the Chicago office. It is run by her loveable goof of a brother, Clay (T.J. Miller), and his much smarter underlings, Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) and Tracey Hughes (Olivia Munn). In order to prevent their branch from losing forty percent of its staff, they must land a multi-million dollar deal with Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance) before the quarter ends (i.e. in two days). What’s their plan? Throw the most outrageous office Christmas party behind Carol’s back to show their suitor the time of his life, endearing him to their organization in the process. Like I said, this isn’t a deep film.
“Office Christmas Party” doesn’t need to be deep. It doesn’t even need much of a plot; the threadbare one supplied sufficing. All that matters is that the raunchy comedy delivers on the laughs. In this case, it’s a fifty-fifty split, just like with this season’s other raunchy Christmas comedy, “Bad Santa 2.” A decent comedy that provides enough belly laughs to justify its existence.
If there’s one thing that directors Josh Gordon & Will Speck do brilliantly is in capturing the spirit of the office Christmas party! They are meant to be mindless diversions from the doldrums of life, not having much substance outside of simple pleasure. Down a couple of alcoholic beverages, divulge in crass jokes, hit on and subsequently get turned down by the office crush, and generally just make a fool of yourself. “Office Christmas Party” is the film equivalent of that, not much in the way of substance, but heavy on the party antics.
Such antics include smoking dope on the roof, photocopying one’s genitals and breaking the copier in the process, guzzling egg nog from an ice sculpture’s penis, giving out dildos in the Secret Santa exchange, making out with a coworker who has a bizarre familial punishment fetish, and dealing with an unruly prostitute and her explosive pimp (played with zest by Jillian Bell), just to name a few. All were cooked up by screenwriters Justin Malen, Laura Solon, and Dan Mazer, who I wouldn’t be surprised to learn got their material from many a drunken stupor. Some of it would be far funnier drunk and/or partaking in it personally as opposed to witnessing it, but the energetic direction keeps them afloat. The film moves at a rapid pace that, for every missed gag, there’s a ribald one just around the corner.
The best gags come at the expense of an evolving PC world. Mary (Kate McKinnon), the HR rep, exists solely as a caricature to hang satire on. She prances around the party in her non-denominational sweater (with every holiday represented), sheepishly giving out orders on how not to offend and abide by the rules. Jeremy (Rob Corddry), the customer service rep, exists solely to be her antithesis. He stumbles about the party in a drunken haze, pissing all over the place and spouting out offensive comments. Both are given the loosest of revelations to lampoon their stereotypes, as do most of the characters.
Had the film had a more ardent farcical bent to it, I feel it would’ve been much more successful. Gordon & Speck could’ve subverted the clichés and avoided the pratfalls. By making light of the raunchy comedy formula as opposed to just the stereotypes, the eventual storyline beats wouldn’t have felt so forced and stiff. The joke would be that an impossible happy ending is reached via last-minute changes of heart. Instead, those moments are supposed to be taken at face value, falling flat on their faces. The “heroic” last act grinds the film to a halt, the comedy taking a backseat to a half-baked story.
The casting department deserves a Christmas bonus for securing such a stacked roster! Every performer is playing to their typecast, the familiarity of it actually endearing. When Josh & Tracey are to hook up, the chemistry is believable because we’ve seen these performances before. While the script underdevelops them, the goodwill of the performers carries them. I like the nice but naughty Jason Bateman; I enjoy the charmingly inept T.J. Miller; I’m tickled by the bitchy Jennifer Aniston made famous in “Horrible Bosses;” hell, I even liked the down-to-Earth Olivia Munn, a first for me. My fondness for the actors supported the feeble formula.
“Office Christmas Party” lives and dies on its cast and raunchy humor. If you don’t like either of those…well, I don’t know why you’d show any interest in the film in the first place. For those that do like those, the movie is a satisfactory comedy to distract from the doldrums of life; just like an actual office Christmas party.
P.S. The film missed a clever opportunity to be called “Non-Denominational Holiday Mixer.” It would’ve played into the PC farce angle wonderfully! Alas, “Office Christmas Party” is arguably more marketable. Oh well.
Final Rating: B-