Office Christmas Party (2016)

Directed by Josh Gordon & Will Speck. Starring Jason Bateman, T. J. Miller, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer, Karan Soni, Rob Corddry, Courtney B. Vance, Sam Richardson, Randall Park, Jillian Bell, Abbey Lee, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jamie Chung. [R]

It’s just before the end of the fiscal year at tech firm Zenotek and ball-busting interim CEO Aniston is being a real Scrooge with promises of wide-scale layoffs and canceled bonuses, but that’s not going to stop her screwball branch manager brother (Miller) from throwing a blow-out of an after-hours Christmas party at the office to goose morale and potentially land a major client (Vance). The expected wild and crazy punchbowl of booze, drugs, raunch and misbehavior, too frequently interrupted by the busy but uninvolving plot—couldn’t the filmmakers have just let the characters breathe and bounce off each other without forcing them into its irresponsible misfit themes and business world concerns? Miller and McKinnon have their moments, but not enough to rescue a film that would have benefited from a lot more, well, office Christmas party, and a lot less horseplay with pimp Bell and spark-free romantic sub-plots. NBA player Jimmy Butler cameos as himself.

48/100