Office Race

When I sat down to watch the 2023 comedy "Office Race", I did so because it was a comedy movie that I hadn't already seen nor actually heard about, plus it had Kelsey Grammer and Alyson Hannigan on the cast list.

Well, this movie from writers Jared Lapidus and James McCarthy turned out to be a dud. The storyline in the movie was pretty bland. Sure, it was straight forward and easy to follow, but it was just so terribly bland and devoid of anything particularly funny. And that made sitting through 81 minutes of it somewhat of a test.

Furthermore, Kelsey Grammer and Alyson Hannigan were hardly in the movie, which was a real shame, because they could have brought a lot to the movie in general. It should be noted, however, that the acting performances in the movie were actually fair enough. And truth be told, then "Office Race" was essentially made watchable because of Joel McHale's character and role.

"Office Race" is listed as a comedy, but it is devoid of anything funny. I didn't even laugh once throughout the course of the 81 minutes that the movie ran for. Nor were I even brought to a smirk or a chuckle. So director Jared Lapidus didn't deliver a successful comedy here.

This is the type of movie that comes and leaves without leaving a lasting mark, much less causing a stir of anything. And it is a movie that will fade into oblivion, never to be seen a second time.

My rating of "Office Race" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

Today felt like a comedy night with the wife we randomly choose and watched Bedazzled on one app and soon after we were working on a good solid 45mins of doom scrolling comedy movies on Paramount plus and we came across this one, first of all respects to the graphic designer who put that together, probably the best thing about the movie.

44 minutes in and we had to switch it off, it felt like a never ending sketch that just wouldnt quite hit the mark, it had some random bits that were the oppposite, it kinda wanted to be Wet Hot American Summer/Hot Rod/They Came Together but it just felt generic.

Disappointing too because the movie is packed with comedic actors.

It feels like this movie is out of date in ways that I can't necessarily put my finger on.

As if it was written for actors we actually cared about, ones whose chemistry and comedic voice demanded our attention and allowed our minds to roam free in hilarity whilst reminiscing how good the humour was, letting us roll through those awkward pauses, joke after joke.. just laughing.

This movie has none of that.

The acting is wooden and stale. The awkward pauses between jokes seemingly go on for decades.

The editing feels as if it's trying to slow down the movie. This is a 40min episode of a mediocre show with barely recognizable c-list "celebrities".

Even if you just need background noise, choose something else.

Pat is a slacker, which is clear. He does the bare minimum at his job. But when his old boss leaves and makes his buddy Spencer the new boss, he takes it upon himself to make sure he is better than him. This all falls within charitable race that pat lied and said he pledged money too to not look like a bad guy. I thought there were some funny moments. An interesting group of characters that were acted well in this. Some moments of chaos and others that make you wonder. Office race I thought overall was pretty good and even the running was fun. It was also nice to see Kelsey grammar in something again.

This isn't designed to be a high-brow comedy. It's just a fun, stupid, silly movie. If you take life too seriously you won't be able to enjoy the movie. But if you can laugh at poop jokes and slapstick comedy it's worth checking out. It's probably never going to become a cult comedy hit like "Office Space" (which it seems might have been its goal), but if you're looking for something to escape from the constant negativity of social media and daily news this is a good one. It's like a combination of Dodgeball, a live action South Park episode, and Adam Sandler's Waterboy.. and if it had been released 20 years ago it would have been received much more positively. Give it a shot.