They Came Together (2014)

“You look out of breath!” Tell me about it. “Well, it looks like you just watched a comedy where the jokes came with the frequency and intensity of a taut thriller.” You can say that again. “You look like you just watched a comedy where the jokes came with the frequency and intensity of a taut thriller.” Tell me about it. Poehler and Paul head up a pitch-perfect parody parade with endless energy, bite (“Whatthefuckareyousaying?”), and genuine chemistry on display. “Hey Joel?” Yeah? “Thanks.”

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Straight Up (2019)

Clever camerawork and editing, delicious suburban sets (the house-sitting angle was a nice addition), and a snappy script well-acted make for a nice trifecta of indie goodness to highlight the solid core content of a nuanced look at the complications of love and romance and a moving character study of the troubled and talkative Todd. The vague epilogue works with the former but unfortunately completely undermines the arc of the latter, including the cheesy but touching grand final gesture.

8

Office Christmas Party (2016)

Has its funny snippets of dialogue–usually from McKinnon’s prude Mary, but obnoxious taxi driver Lonny’s “Carol” bit is great–but the party “humour” is mostly just blandly and unnecessarily crude, and a travesty of a plot, aside from being contrived and far-fetched (see the miraculous last-minute company-saver post-party) ends up embracing its over-the-top hedonism in a cringe-worthy final scene that destroys what could’ve been a decent character arc for Miller’s life-of-the-party/loser Clay.

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