Talented cast can’t make up for superficial holiday film
It’s the time of year for Christmas comedies, the time when Hollywood rolls out the same tired, formulaic traditions of hope, family togetherness, and pratfalls. Studios are all hoping to strike gold again with an Elf, or a Christmas Vacation or A Christmas Story, forgetting that what made those films timeless was innovation and good writing, not rehashed themes of love and compassion.
Anymore, the films that stick, the ones that make the most impact, are the ones that take the ideas from dramas It’s A Wonderful Life and twist them into something subversive. Think Scrooged, or Gremlins, or even Bad Santa. Last year’s Krampus did an excellent job of challenging the status quo, although it’s themes of punishment for the lack of Christmas spirit might work better this season, as our elected administration is eager to strip citizenship for a lack of patriotism and failing to say “Merry Christmas” might land you with double secret probation.
But still, even these types of films are becoming more common, meaning that Hollywood’s attempts at subversion are becoming either too tame or crass—see Bad Santa 2, as an example. It’s the definition of trying too hard. This year’s Office Christmas Party falls into this camp, although it has a few breakout moments due to a talented cast.
Chicago based Server manufacturer Zenotek seems to have a moral problem. As the film opens, CTO Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) has just finalized his divorce, and is headed to work. As he greets each of his staff, we learn about their personality quirks (which in this film counts as characterization). Mary (Kate McKinnon), Head of HR, is uptight and strange, a lover of cheese and parrots who has a tendency to fart when she’s nervous. She is at odds with other staff members like customer service supervisor Jeremy (Rob Corddry), who sees her devotion to inoffensive, all-inclusive holiday cheer as a personal affront.
The audience also meets Tracy (Olivia Munn), Zenotek’s head of technology, who is clearly a love interest for Josh, as she is both attractive and smart. Ultimately, Josh heads into a meeting with branch manager Clay Vanstone (T.J. Miller), a clueless, hard partying trust funder, the son of the former CEO. His only desire is to make his employees happy and improve working conditions around the office.
Enter Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston), Clay’s sister, and current CEO of the company. She argues that Clay’s branch is not performing well enough and orders Clay to lay off 40 percent of his workers, cut all bonuses, and cancel the Christmas party.
Parker counters with a suggestion: if they can close a deal with Walter Davis, representative of a financial giant, the office jobs are saved. Carol agrees, and Josh and Clay set off to throw the greatest Christmas party ever in hopes of saving their staff.
All of this is fairly standard comedy fare, and on its own wouldn’t be enough to set the film apart from everything else released in December every year. But T.J. Miller is a rare talent, one that can carry a movie on his own. He steals every scene he’s in and, given that he’s the most important part of the film, keeps the film from being overly flat.
Jason Bateman, as always, performs well as the straight man and Kate McKinnon plays one of her better Saturday Night Live characters, delivering a fair number of laughs herself. Her reliance on the wide eyed, socially awkward weirdo as a fall back character will likely become tired as she drifts towards over-exposure, but for the time being, she’s a welcome addition to a comedy cast.
Office Christmas Party won’t become a holiday classic. It will be forgotten as last year’s The Night Before or this year’s Almost Christmas.
But if you, like myself, can’t bring yourself to watch another straight drama starring Amy Adams or Jessica Chastain, not because they’re bad, but because you need a break, or you’re looking to pass the time between now and Rogue One, Office Christmas Party fits the bill. You won’t be angry you watched but you won’t be blown away either.
But then, with the glut of Christmas movies, there’s never any shortage of something to watch.