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Office Christmas Party review: just another average out-of-control party movie

Aleesha Matharu | Updated on: 10 February 2017, 1:36 IST

From Blades of Glory directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck comes this raunchy comedy just in time before the Christmas and New Year madness unleashes itself.

But was it really a raunchy watch for Indian moviegoers? Not really, since the censor board deems us children even after the put an 'A' sticker on a movie. So if you really want to watch nearly the entire cast of Saturday Night Live turn the volume up and party the holidays away, you're better off doing it at home instead of watching just half the movie in a theatre.

Office Christmas Party is your atypical party movie - it is far from being the first movie to take the concept of 'one debaucherous wild night' and turn it up a notch with free flowing alcohol, drugs and crazy antics. You've seen it before in Project X, The Hangover, This is the End, Superbad and countless other movies.

The movie manages to make it to the nice list mostly because of the star-studded cast. There's Silicon Valley's TJ Miller who is the goofy boss of a branch of his late father's tech company. A loveable boss, Clay is surrounded by employees (Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, Rob Corddry, Karan Soni and Jamie Chung) who won't even leave him when offered crazy salaries.

Then there's his overbearing, tough, bossy sister Carol, who's the CEO of the ZenoTek, and is hell bent on shutting Clay down. She gives him a two-day ultimatum to turn things around or else his beloved staff would face cuts.

Determined to save his staff, Clay decides to concoct a hair-brained scheme: to throw a bitchin' holiday bash, all to impress a major client (Courtney B Vance).

Are there drugs and alcohol galore? Check. Are there reindeer drinking water from a toilet? Double check. Jousts using Christmas trees? Jesus riding on a horse? Do we get to see Kate McKinnon in a godawful Christmas sweater? An anxiety-riddle pimp (a standout Jillian Bell)? All that and more.

Basically, if you can take a movie and convey the frenzied energy of a party, you have that uncommon mix of comedy gold and spontaneity that can't be contained.

Office Christmas Party is one such movie.

The verdict

There are laughs enough if you remember you're not meant to overthink it. But considering the cast, it's just a little bit of a letdown.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

First published: 9 December 2016, 9:38 IST
 
Aleesha Matharu @almatharu

Born in Bihar, raised in Delhi and schooled in Dehradun, Aleesha writes on a range of subjects and worked at The Indian Express before joining Catch as a sub-editor. When not at work you can find her glued to the TV, trying to clear a backlog of shows, or reading her Kindle. Raised on a diet of rock 'n' roll, she's hit occasionally by wanderlust. After an eight-year stint at Welham Girls' School, Delhi University turned out to be an exercise in youthful rebellion before she finally trudged her way to J-school and got the best all-round student award. Now she takes each day as it comes, but isn't an eternal optimist.