BrendanW 
Another Christmas movie and again, we ask… is it at least good this time? The previous film I watched (Why Him?) was uninspired tripe and barely had an excuse to exist and the reviews for this one didn’t look too promising either. Still, an ensemble comedy can be a lot of fun even if there is little plot to be had and it relies mostly on fun and slapstick humour to carry it through to the end along with some talented actors. Thankfully, this cast was loaded so that was an aspect that I wasn’t too worried about when watching the film. I walked into this with no expectations.
The film centers around… an office Christmas party. Clay (T.J. Miller), the goofy owner of his late father’s business is paid a visit by his CEO sister, Carol (Jennifer Aniston), who informs him that he must fire 40% of his staff by the end of the quarter (which is in two days) or sign a huge client (Courtney B. Vance) to cover the massive financial losses that they have suffered. The solution: Clay’s friends and co-workers (Jason Bateman and Olivia Munn) help him plan a massive party and invite this client so as to woo him over by proudly showing off the camraderie between the staff. Meanwhile we get several sub-plots involving single mom Allison (Vanessa Bayer); Nate (Karan Soni) attempting to prove to everyone that he indeed does have a hot girlfriend, eventually going to ridiculous measures and Bateman and Munn having a romantic sub-plot.
Sometimes you look to a future viewing of a film with no expectations and walk out feeling just satisfied enough. I didn’t love this movie. I didn’t hate. Is it funny? Yes. Is it one of the better comedies? No. However, it is certainly a film that entertained me, made me laugh at times and had some fun actors in it as well. Isn’t that just about all you can ask for from a movie like this? I’m also a sucker for any film that features current members of the Saturday Night Live cast and we get two great ones here in Kate McKinnon and Vanessa Bayer.
It would be impossible to list every single performer in this film so I will just list my favourites. Jason Bateman plays straight man and it’s a role he can play in his sleep. He does it in almost every comedy and while that could be construed as being typecast, I’ve got no complaints about Bateman. I go back and forth on T.J. Miller but he does some pretty good work here as the somewhat-dimwitted but also well-meaning boss; he has actual moments of pathos where he displays some decent acting. Kate McKinnon plays the H.R. Rep in the office and steals every scene she’s in from a bit where she stuffily tells everyone to refrain from making love in the office to a later scene where she goes into full speed demon mode all over the road in her Kia. Vanessa Bayer also gets a handful of funny scenes including one in which she must deal with a baby-fetish from one of her co-workers (Randall Park). Karan Soni plays the soft-spoken Nate and does a good job in getting the audience to feel genuine emotion for him in such a wild film. Jillian Bell has a blast playing an intimidating pimp after a good fake-out introduction that teases her character to be a big, hulking dude. Other actors in the film are fine but no one else really goes above and beyond besides Jennifer Aniston getting one particularly great moment where she snaps at a small child.
While the film is at its best when it features its supporting characters or has big, loud scenes involving many stunts and party shenanigans, it is at its weakest whenever it tries to pretend to be anything other than that. The romantic sub-plot between Bateman and Munn is very weak and the two really don’t have a lot of chemistry between them either. We don’t get a lot of reason to care about it other than Bateman’s character going through a divorce and not hooking up with Munn when he had the chance because he doesn’t take enough risks in his life. See, that’s a very obvious set-up to Bateman doing something incredibly risky, right? The relationship between Miller and Aniston as siblings is a little bit better but still slightly under-written and doesn’t really blow anyone away either. The plot is another weak area as the resolution to the whole thing is incredibly silly and doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. It is unnecessarily over-complicated and relies on one of those Movie Science moments that you just kinda have to accept and move on.
Don’t get me wrong, though. While this movie is not great, it is still enjoyable and features a number of funny moments featuring some talented comedians. Sure, some of the comedy is predictable and hackneyed at times (the ‘gay panic’ jokes with the egg nog ice sculpture) but it is pretty consistently entertaining overall.
RATING: ***
Rating System:
* (Brutal; the worst rating)
** (Some elements keep it from being awful but still not very good)
*** (Completely watchable; a rental as old-timers might say)
**** (Great film with a few things here and there keeping it from being perfect)
***** (Flawless; a true achievement)
