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.

It feels like this movie is out of date in ways that I can't necessarily put my finger on.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

Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton & Hank Azaria made "Run Fat Boy Run" (brilliant). This movie, Office Race took that plot, removed the brilliant parts, and added toilet humor and crude sex jokes that fall flat. I own Run Fat Boy Run and I rewatch it every few months, best modern underdog story ever. So Funny. The landlord, the gamblers, the shoplifter, the characters are so memorable. I won't ever bother watching Office Race again.

The plot and the script are the problem. The players did their best. I just watched it before writing this review and I'm deliberately trying to forget it. Run Fat Boy Run is so much better.

Pat (Beck Bennett) is a slacker salesman at an internet finance startup. His former underling Spencer (Joel McHale) gets promoted ahead of him. They need to make a sale to marathon-obsessed Rita (Erinn Hayes). Pat ends up training with Rita's group for an upcoming race with the sale on the line.

SNL alum Beck Bennett does a lot of voice work. As the comedic lead, he needs to be appealing even with the slackerism. In fact, his slackership needs to be fun and enjoyable to the audience. It's meh. That infects the whole movie. It's all very meh. Joel McHale is doing his irreverent most. Mostly, I'm not in love with this lead.

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.