Review: ‘Corporate Animals’ is an awesome ensemble comedy.

Lucy (Demi Moore) is the delusional CEO of a struggling startup aimed at millennials. In her infinite wisdom, Lucy leads her staff, including her long-suffering assistants Jess (Jessica Williams) and Freddie (Karan Soni), on a team building retreat in the caves of New Mexico led by an overeager guide (Ed Helms). When disaster strikes and the food runs out, mandatory office bonding becomes a lot more… appetizing.

Demi Moore plays a caricature of a “crunchy” CEO who takes her employees on a team-building excursion that goes awry. Trapped in a cave, already eccentric personalities are pushed to their limits. This script uses the “ripped from the headlines” and pop culture tactic to drive its tongue-in-cheek dialogue. It has a very Office feel to its co-worker chemistry dynamic. Demi Moore is authentically hilarious as an entitled phony nightmare. Ed Helms is never not funny. Jessica Williams and Karan Soni make an incredible team, SNL needs to take them both on immediately.  Each and every cast member has funny moment after funny moment. These are fully fleshed out characters which is a compliment to both the cast and the writer, Sam Bain.

Filmed almost entirely in the cave set, you can feel the claustrophobia of the cast. This is a “Lord of the Flies” daydream for anyone who hates their boss. The funniest moments revolve around hallucinations of all kinds. Corporate Animals doesn’t break any new ground but who cares. It’s still an undeniably fun time and a great comedic platform for both veteran and newcomer cast.

Screen Media will release the film in theaters and on demand September 20th.

About Liz Whittemore

Liz grew up in northern Connecticut and was memorizing movie dialogue from Shirley Temple to A Nightmare on Elm Street at a very early age. She will watch just about any film all the way through (no matter how bad) just to prove a point. A loyal New Englander, a lover of Hollywood, and true inhabitant of The Big Apple.

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