Office Christmas Party

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Christmas 2017

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When I first saw the trailer for this, I was pretty convinced that this could be as good as last year's 'The Night Before'. It was a Christmas movie combined with a party movie, and it looked like it could be fun. But then, I watched it.

The plot centers on the threat of a closing branch of a company called Zenotek. Failing to meet their quarterly quota, Intermediate CEO, Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to shut them down. But her brother, Clay (TJ Miller) and his friend Josh (Jason Bateman) propose a chance at partnering with a man named Walter Davis (Courtney B Vance); one of the city's big financial giants. If it can be done, the branch can be saved.

The plan Josh and Clay end up coming up with is to show Walter a good time at their office Christmas party. Surely, if they show him the time of his life, he'll want to partner with them, thus saving the company.

So, overall, the film is just kinda forgettable. It's not without a few giggles, but nothing here was really laugh-out-loud funny to me. In comparison to something like 'The Night Before', at least that had Seth Rogen tripping out through the whole movie and reacting to various things, plus the character of Mr. Green. Like them or hate them, they each made their part very memorable. This had nothing that stuck out like that, and it was essentially just a party movie with a "save the rec center" plot to it.

I thought it was interesting considering how raunchy this got in some parts that there was no shock value to any of it for me. I guess 'Project X' set the bar pretty high for that sort of thing in a party movie. It's strange, I like a good party movie, and it's not really like this was extremely lacking, but there was SOMETHING missing here for me. I can't quite put my finger on it. If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with a complete lack of character development. 

The film is basically just two guys and a mean older sister, and we don't end up knowing a whole hell of a lot about them. Or what about some of the side characters. Rob Corddry is in it here and there, but he's such an after thought. I mean, what's his story at all? We just know he works there with them. It takes away from really caring much about how it all ends. 

But there's some side story stuff too. There's a desperate loser who brings a prostitute to the party, and a kindly mother of one who can't find the right man. They're the only two side stories going on, so I'll give you three guesses as to what happens with all of that.

Another thing is that most of the party ideas utilized here have either been done before, or they're just not all that special. You've got the ice luge, you've got the Slip n Slide, and at one point TJ Miller hands out gifts dressed as Santa... but, a few bonus points for making Santa's chair the Throne of Swords from 'Game of Thrones'. Also not particularly original, but... still awesome.

In the end, I probably wouldn't add this to my list of favourite party movies. Which is a shame, because when it comes to that category, I don't tend to be too hard to please.

2/5

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