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Office Christmas Party

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Office Christmas Party
Theatrical release poster
Screenplay by
Story by
Starring
CinematographyJeff Cutter
Edited by
  • Jeff Groth
  • Evan Henke
Music byTheodore Shapiro
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • December 5, 2016 (2016-12-05) (New York City)
  • December 9, 2016 (2016-12-09) (United States)
Running time
105 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$45 million[2]
Box office$111.6 million[2]

Office Christmas Party is a 2016 American Christmas comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon and written by Justin Malen and Laura Solon, based on a story by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T. J. Miller, Jillian Bell, Vanessa Bayer, Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Sam Richardson, Randall Park, Kate McKinnon and Jennifer Aniston, and was released on December 9, 2016 by Paramount Pictures. It received mixed reviews and has grossed $111 million worldwide.

Plot

Josh Parker (Jason Bateman), Chief Technical Officer of Zenotek's Chicago branch, meets with his lawyer, Ezra (Matt Walsh), to finalize his divorce in time for the holidays. Zenotek meanwhile has failed to meet its quarterly quota, and intermediate CEO Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to lay off forty percent of the staff, cut bonuses, and cancel the annual Christmas party. Her brother, and branch manager Clay (T. J. Miller), is desperate to keep his staff. Carol harbors resentment toward Clay, whom she believed was her father's favorite, and threatens to shut down the branch. Josh and Clay, along with Josh's head of tech, Tracey Hughes (Olivia Munn), propose partnering with financial giant Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), whom they are having lunch with later that day, and Carol gives them the chance to win his business. Walter is pleased with the pitch, but concerned with another recent branch closure at Zenotek, feeling that the company is more about the budget than their people. Clay invites him to their Christmas party in hopes of showing him that their company is in good standing. Before leaving town, Carol offers Josh a position at her New York headquarters, confident her brother will fail.

Clay funds an exorbitant Christmas party, much to the chagrin of Head of Human Resources Mary (Kate McKinnon). Joel (Sam Richardson) takes DJ duty, but the party struggles to pick up even with Tracey inviting Chicago Bulls player Jimmy Butler as a friend. Though initially reluctant, Walter is inadvertently doused with cocaine when it is accidentally fed into a snow machine and succumbs to his free-spirited nature. Throughout the party, various employees cut loose: Nate (Karan Soni) tries to impress two of his staff (Andrew Leeds & Oliver Cooper) by hiring an escort named Savannah (Abbey Lee) to pretend to be his girlfriend, though Nate is found out when she gives a handjob to a fellow employee; Clay's assistant and single-mom Allison (Vanessa Bayer) attempts to hook up with new hire Fred (Randall Park) but stops when he reveals he has a mother-child fetish; and Customer Service supervisor Jeremy (Rob Corddry) cuts loose on the dance floor with Mary, whom he previously despised. Josh and Tracey get stuck on the roof and nearly kiss before Jeremy interrupts them. Back on the dance floor Clay wins over Walter's business, and Clay promises everyone they'll keep their jobs and receive their bonuses. The party gradually grows more and more chaotic as employees begin partaking in orgies, destroying company property, and doing drugs.

Carol's flight is cancelled due to weather, and when she discovers the party is happening in a conversation with her Uber driver after she took people to the party, she rushes back to the office. Though Carol is initially impressed with receiving Walter's business, Walter injures himself attempting to swing off a balcony after a conversation with Clay, and is later discovered to have been fired from his firm, no longer bringing in any new money to Zenotek. Carol decides then and there to shut down the branch and tells everyone about the job offer she gave Josh, with Tracey revealing that she was given the same offer but explicitly rejected it where Josh kept it open. Feeling betrayed, Clay rushes off with Savannah's emotionally unstable pimp Trina (Jillian Bell) to party elsewhere, though Trina is more interested in robbing Clay of his wealth that he is actually keeping on his person. Josh, Tracey, Mary, and Carol race off to save Clay, leaving security guard Clara (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) to put down the unruly party. Clay ends up racing Trina's car towards an opening drawbridge, attempting to jump the gap, a feat he'd earlier mentioned to Josh. Josh drives Mary's minivan alongside him, threatening to jump the gap with him, though Carol causes the car to swerve into Clay's car, crashing both vehicles. Clay's car hits an internet hub, knocking out the internet in the entire city.

Trina and Savannah have been arrested for their crimes, while Clay was taken to hospital. In the wake of the internet blackout, Tracey realizes how to run a new innovation she'd been working on for several years that combines internet WiFi with wired connections through the city's power grid, which had previously failed due to her inability to take the real-world interference of the existing internet signals into account. They race back to the destroyed office to set up her tech, and when it works, internet is restored to Chicago. With this new innovation, Carol declines to shut down the branch. Josh and Tracey kiss amidst the ruins of their office. Jeremy opens up to Mary, and Nate and Allison agree to go on a date. The whole group meets Carol and Clay as he's released from the hospital and they all go out for breakfast, driving recklessly on the way.

Cast

Production

In 2010, Guymon Casady approached Josh Gordon & Will Speck with an original idea of his, to make a movie about a holiday office party. They subsequently set the concept up at DreamWorks Pictures, and it was later rewritten by Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, and Laura Solon.[3] On February 19, 2016, it was announced that Speck and Gordon would also direct the film, which would star Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, T. J. Miller, and Kate McKinnon.[3] The producers were set as Scott Stuber, along with Entertainment 360's Guymon Casady and Daniel Rappaport.[4] On March 8, 2016, Randall Park joined the film,[5] and Olivia Munn was cast on March 17.[6] On April 4, 2016, Abbey Lee Kershaw joined the cast.[7] Karan Soni, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Jamie Chung were added on April 5, 2016,[8] and on April 6, 2016, Rob Corddry, Andrew Leeds, and Oliver Cooper were cast as well.[9]

Principal photography on the film began late March 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia.[10] In early April, filming took place in Chicago, Illinois,[11] and after that production moved to Hiram, Georgia, where it shot from April 19 to June 1, 2016.[12]

For casting Aniston in the film, Gordon stated, “We created this character for Jennifer because she’s absolutely fearless when it comes to playing somewhat unlikeable characters in comedies. For her, the more daring the role, the better.”[13]

Release

Office Christmas Party was released in the United States on December 9, 2016 by Paramount Pictures.[3][4] Paramount (under UIP) also distributed overseas, except in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where distribution was handled by Mister Smith Entertainment through other industries. Entertainment One released the film in the United Kingdom.

Box office

As of January 20, 2017, Office Christmas Party has grossed $54.7 million in the United States and Canada and $56.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $111.5 million, against a production budget of $45 million.[2]

Office Christmas Party was released alongside The Bounce Back and the wide expansions of Miss Sloane and Nocturnal Animals, and was expected to gross $13–15 million from 3,210 theaters in its opening weekend.[14] It went on to make $16.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office and on par with recent R-rated comedies like How to Be Single and Sisters. 56% of its opening weekend audience was male, while 83% was over the age of 25.[15]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 42%, based on 154 reviews, and an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its cast of gifted comics is good for a handful of laughs, but Office Christmas Party's overstuffed plot ultimately proves roughly as disappointing as its clichéd gags and forced sentimentality."[16] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 42 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Office Christmas Party (15)". British Board of Film Classification. November 25, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Office Christmas Party (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Kit, Borys (February 19, 2016). "Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman to Star in 'Office Christmas Party' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  4. ^ a b A. Lincoln, Ross (February 19, 2016). "Dreamworks Invites Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston To 'Office Christmas Party'". Deadline. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  5. ^ Kit, Borys (March 8, 2016). "Randall Park Joining Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman in 'Office Christmas Party' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  6. ^ Kroll, Justin (March 17, 2016). "Olivia Munn in Talks for Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman's 'Office Christmas Party' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  7. ^ Jr, Mike Fleming (April 4, 2016). "Abbey Lee Set For DreamWorks' 'Office Christmas Party'".
  8. ^ "Jamie Chung, 'Deadpool' Actor Join 'Office Christmas Party'". April 5, 2016.
  9. ^ "Rob Corddry Joins Jennifer Aniston's 'Office Christmas Party' (Exclusive)".
  10. ^ "Filming over Chicago River for 'Office Christmas Party'". Loop North. March 24, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  11. ^ Metz, Nina (March 28, 2016). "Jennifer Aniston comedy 'Office Christmas Party' to film here this week". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  12. ^ "Find out how you can be an Extra in 'Office Christmas Party' in Chicago and Atlanta". OLV. March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  13. ^ Xie, Hong (November 24, 2016). "Office Christmas Party - Hitting Theaters 12/9!".
  14. ^ "'Office Christmas Party' Hopes To Bring Cheer To Another Dull Weekend; 'La La Land' Tunes Up – Box Office Preview". Deadline.com.
  15. ^ "'Moana' Threepeats at #1, 'La La Land' Opens Big in Limited Release". Box Office Mojo.
  16. ^ "Office Christmas Party (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  17. ^ "Office Christmas Party reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  18. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
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