Movie Review: Office Christmas Party

Does false advertising in movie trailers piss you off? If so, Office Christmas Party is the movie for you. For better or worse, Will Speck and Josh-Gordon's R-rated holiday comedy delivers everything the trailers promised. The titular night of debauchery is a completely over-the top affair full of booze, cocaine, hookers, public sex acts, mass property destruction and plenty of other regrettable behavior. If none of that sounds appealing to you, you should probably just go see Moana or one of the bazillion awards contenders that are currently in theaters.   

I'll be able the first to admit that Office Christmas Party isn't going to be a yearly holiday staple. There's absolutely nothing here that hasn't been done better by dozens of other vulgar comedies over the years and the number of true laugh-out-loud moments are fairly limited. However, watching the film's loaded ensemble cast do their thing is more than enough to make it worth a single viewing. This group of high-profile comedic actors (headlined by T.J. Miller, Jennifer Aniston and MVP Kate McKinnon) are able to mine a healthy amount of laughs and deliver some of the most spirited performances of their respective careers behind material that is decent at best. In other words, their efforts are exactly the type of feel-good miracle that defines the holiday season. Office Christmas Party is a fun, disposable distraction and given how awful 2016 has been on the whole, that's all I needed it to be.

3.5/5 Stars