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Office Christmas Party

                     review by Bobby Blakey

It’s that time of year where all the holiday films start releasing in droves. While most are family or faith based, there are a handful that take the more adult approach and have the possibility to deliver some of the best laughs. The latest hoping to capture that same spot in holiday fun is Office Christmas Party and looks to be fully committing to the adult theme, but does it manage to deliver the holiday party to remember or should it have been shut down before it started?

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Office Christmas Party follows a CEO who  tries to close down her hard-partying brother’s branch, leading he and his Chief Technical Officer to rally their co-workers and host an epic office Christmas party in an effort to impress a potential client and close a sale that will save their jobs. The film features a great cast including Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, T.J. Miller, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Courtney B. Vance, Vanessa Bayer, Jamie Chung, Rob Corddry, Olivia Munn, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Abbey Lee, and Karan Soni with all of them bringing their own something special to the film. The film isn’t offering up anything all that new that hasn’t been done in these insane party themed films, but the cast and holiday theme of it all makes it something fun that manages to stand out. Everyone here brings exactly what you expect to the party making for a great cast of characters to play off of each other. The always hilarious Kate McKinnon steals the show once again with her strange performance. TJ Miller brings his usual insanity, but is still toned down in some aspects playing alongside perfectly with the always great Bateman. They are the heart of the film and have great friendship chemistry. Aniston offers up a very straight laced stick in the mud persona that still manages to offer up some laughs and fun from time to time.

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The set up to the film is pretty standard with the rest of the film being pretty farfetched at times, but that is part of what makes it so fun. You can see half of what is going to happen a mile away, but it is so much fun to watch you don’t even care. Some of the best moments are the side stories during the party featuring pimps, prostitutes, drugs, fetishes and even references to the Fast and Furious all coupled together with some great party music that will have you dancing in your seat. I was surprised that the film didn’t go quite as far as I expected at pushing the R rating, but make no mistake it earns it all the way.

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This is one that you have to buy into a lot of the nonsense and clichéd directions to fully enjoy it. The simple story and over the top nature make it another film that I can see becoming required holiday viewing for some. Everything about this movie made me think of the Tom Hanks 1984 flick Bachelor Party with a Christmas twist and that is a good thing as we need more comedies like this in my opinion.  

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In addition to the feature this release includes tons of bonus features including deleted & extended scenes, outtakes, commentary, featurettes, an alternate ending and both theatrical and unrated versions of the film. Join in on the insane fun with Office Christmas Party available now on Digital HD and then Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD on April 4th from Paramount Home Entertainment.   

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