Nuance isn’t a huge priority for this goofily ridiculous and disposable comedy directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon whose 2007 comedy Blades of Glory is incidentally growing in prestige to the level of Zoolander and Anchorman. Office Christmas Party is based on the borderline meaningless premise – actually, wait, make that just meaningless premise – of saving the Chicago branch of a tech firm from being closed down by its Horrible Boss, played by Jennifer Aniston, by hosting a kickass office Christmas party with loads of inappropriate drinking and sexual behaviour, to which a potential big-spending client will be invited.
Jason Bateman plays the harassed but decent manager and SNL comedy genius Kate McKinnon is thrown away on the role of the uptight HR manager. It’s a film destined for iTunes rental status, but kept from flatlining with a pretty dependable string of stupid yet funny one-liners, and a nice turn from TJ Miller as Aniston’s slacker brother, who runs this office as his part of the family firm. He has an entertaining expression of shame while confessing that his degree subject was Canadian Television.
