“Office Christmas Party”
Directed by Josh Gordon, Will Speck

Okay…short review here:

“Office Christmas party” is far funnier than you think it will be, yet at least twenty minutes longer than it needs to be. If it had been a ninety minute film, it might have been the perfect little outrageous comedy. But at close to two hours, there are several gags and lines that fall flat. Still, it has charm, heart and belly laughs galore.

Everyone in it ranges from hilarious (Jason Bateman, TJ Miller, Vanessa Bayer and Fortune Feimster) to serviceable (Jennifer Aniston, Courtney B. Vance and Olivia Munn). These performances work so well due to a connection to the humanity of their situations…realism amidst the zany (and I do mean zany) shenanigans. Alas, Kate McKinnon and Rob Cordry are utterly two-dimensional and, as a result, their work feels  flat…eliciting groans instead of laughs…like they’re in a sketch instead of a film.

But, seriously…it’s very, very funny, and if you find yourself in a crappy mood, or having just missed out on a sold-out screening of “Rogue One” at your local megaplex, then you could do a lot worse than attending this party.

Written on 1/1/17