OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Some movies are just a big set-up to show a wild and over-the-top party.  These are usually teen movies, but in Office Christmas Party an adult and quite good cast work through a pretty mundane plot.

Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) is the Chief Technical Officer for the Chicago branch of tech company Zenotek.  He's the nice, even-tempered guy who keeps everyone working together.  He's also the buddy of Clay Vanstone (T.J. Miller), the easy-going branch manager who loves to party and support his employees.  But Clay's serious sister and interim CEO Carol (Jennifer Aniston) wants to get rid of employees' bonuses, cut the staff by 40 percent, and cancel the office Christmas party.  The only way to avoid all that is if Josh and Clay get the business of Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance) while Carol heads out of town for her vacation.

The pitch to Walter goes poorly, until Clay invites Walter to a wild office Christmas party.  In no time at all, the office is filled with lights and alcohol, live reindeer, someone dressed as Jesus, and Walter going crazy after blasted in the face with cocaine.  There are a few other storylines: Josh's possible romance with programmer Tracey (Olivia Munn); uptight H.R. head Mary (Kate McKinnon) putting a damper on things and feuding with wild guy Jeremy (Rob Corddry); and nerdy Nate (Karan Sori) hiring prostitute Savannah (Abbey Lee Kershaw) to be his pretend girlfriend -- and then dealing with both her and her gun-toting pimp Trina (Jillian Bell).  The party gets more and more insane, everyone gets crazier and crazier, and of course Carol's flight is canceled and she winds up back at the office...

It's almost impressive that Office Christmas Party manages to be so mediocre with such a good cast.  The actors are all fine in their roles, but the story is completely predictable and there aren't that many laughs through the movie.  Office Christmas Party is a very slight film that's easily forgotten.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

GHOSTBUSTERS

It's summer, which means movies that hope to entertain with big stars, big budgets, and often fairly little plot.  This applies to the new Ghostbusters movie, a simplebut enjoyable reboot of the 1980s movie.

Erin Gilbert (Kristin Wiig) is on the verge of getting tenure from a prestigious university -- until she discovers that a book she co-wrote with Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), promoting the existence of ghosts, is still around.  Erin confronts Abby (working at a small college), who's still trying to prove the existence of ghosts, along with the ever-smiling, possibly insane engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon).   Erin gets sucked back into the world of ghost-hunting, and when the trio all get fired from their jobs, they wind up starting their own business and focused on proving the existence of ghosts.

They soon get two new members: Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), a subway worker who knows NYC and has read massive amounts of nonfiction -- and who becomes the fourth Ghostbuster.  Then there's Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), the world's worst receptionist and a pretty dim bulb in general, but the only one who applied for the receptionist job (and who Erin has massive hots for).

But it's not easy hunting ghosts.  A nerdy little man named Rowan (Neil Casey) has been leaving small machines designed to amplify paranormal activity -- and to break down the barriers between this world and the next one.  There's also lots of skepticism about the Ghostbusters' finds, as well as a city hall that knows the paranormal is real but wants that information kept quiet so homeland security can handle it.

Ghostbusters works pretty well.  While the movie is a bit light on story, the lead actors are all terrific in their roles (especially Kate McKinnon's mad scientist) and the movie has a nice amount of action, from numerous ghosts to a haunted NYC parade to the final giant creature.  There are numerous tributes to the original movie, from appearances from both creatures and almost every star from the original (including a tribute to the late Harold Ramis) to a post-credits scene laying the groundwork for a sequel.  This is a terrific movie for the summer: light, funny and entertaining.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch