Holiday Streams: Office Christmas Party is an unabashedly fun entertainer to revel in the festive spirit

Work-life balance has been one of the widely discussed topics across the world during the pandemic. We came across several unfortunate instances where people had to face layoffs and pay cuts like never before. Office Christmas Party, directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, revolves around a story which touches upon these relevant and sensitive topics.

As the title suggests, the movie is all about the after-effects of a grand party organized in an office by a couple of ambitious employees who were hell bent on impressing a financier to ensure that their jobs are safe.

Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) and Clay Vanstone (TJ Miller) are enthusiastic employees of Zenotek, which has Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) as its CEO. Though a thorough professional, Carol often comes across as the annoying boss who makes others creep out.

Her announcement of 40 per cent of the employees getting laid off soon has sent shock waves across the company, though the employees are aware of the fact that they couldn't succeed in meeting their quarterly target. But Josh and Clay, who also happens to be Carol's brother, decide to convince financial giant Walter Davis (Courtney B Vance) to get adequate funds so as to avoid the lay off of Zenotek employees.

The two of them, with the help of Tracey Hughes (Olivia Munn), put their best foot forward to impress Walter and invite him to the X'mas party at Zenotek. Meanwhile, Tracey is developing something out of the box with regard to creating internet Wi-Fi with wire connections.

An upset Carol, who has instructed employees not to organize a Christmas party, goes to London. But she returns to the office only to see that the employees are having a gala time after her flight gets canceled.

Office Christmas Party starts as a serious film which revolves around office politics and the issues pertaining to employees getting laid off and going through pay cuts when Christmas is around the corner. The friendship between Josh and Clay have been depicted interestingly from the beginning; their bromance is one of the highlights of this fun-filled drama.

The insipid brother-sister relationship between Clay and Carol helps bring the required friction in the office which is full of employees with devil-may-care attitude.

The film takes us into the celebratory mood after the employees, under the leadership of Josh and Clay, start unwinding in the best way possible. More than 100 employees turn the office into a posh watering hole with most of them indulging in drinking and dancing no-holds-barred.

A few are spotted discussing business deals, some others trying to impress their office crushes.. many others indulge in unlimited fun, and as time passes by, people even start exploring their kinky side without any inhibitions. Though it's a movie with flaws with regard to lack of strong characterizations, it offers several engaging episodes making us revel in Yuletide spirit.

The episode involving an employee and a female escort who he introduces as his girlfriend to his colleagues brings the house down. The scene to watch out for is when Walter, who acts pricey in the beginning, starts behaving in a bizarre manner after getting sloshed.

Though the party scene at the office becomes slightly disturbed with Carol's return, more drama unfolds between her and her brother. A small action scene followed by a hilarious chase sequence between Josh and Clay lands the latter at a hospital. But both Clay and Carol, the brother-sister, sort out their indifferences with regard to professional and personal lives. Josh and Tracey decide to start a new life together, thus leading to a happy ending for the story.

Despite the shortcomings, what makes Office Christmas Party an apt film to celebrate the X'mas occasion with your dear ones is the care-free manner in which the characters and screenplay are presented. There are different kinds of characters who crave different things in life.

But at the end of the day, all of them desire to be loved and cared for. The gentle portrayal of friendship, romance and sibling relationship is another aspect which makes it to the must watch list of movies to celebrate in this month of merry and festivities.  

Office Christmas Party is streaming on SonyLIV.