It’s awards season, and the duo responsible for Blades of Glory and The Switch, virtuoso hacks Josh Gordon and Will Speck, earn a nomination for one the year’s gloomiest comedies. Box office anathema Jennifer Aniston stars as a CEO threatening to shutter her sybaritic little brother’s (T.J. Miller) failing branch office. By way of retaliation, he decides to reward his employees with a depraved holiday blowout. If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of failure, then the unintoxicating dope jokes, eeny-meeny-miney-moe framework, and de rigueur closeup cameo by Harry P. Ness may lead one to believe that Judd Apatow might very well be a genius. Olivia Munn photographs well, Kate McKinnon puts an uptight Republican spin on her Hillary Clinton impersonation, and Jason Bateman’s mugging quickly fades into the background. Even a third act demolition derby tribute to The Blues Brothers can’t revitalize this stiff. As childish and unimaginative as its oversimplified title, were there still video stores, the DVD would no doubt be shelved in the generics aisle. (2016) — Scott Marks
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