Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston star in new comedy, 'Office Christmas Party'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- It's that time of year when companies are getting together for holiday celebrations.

And this year, Hollywood is attempting to tackle the funny side of the work gatherings with a new movie, 'Office Christmas Party'.

Some office parties disappeared during the Great Recession and never came back.

Others fell victim to behavior that got out of hand.

It's those parties, the wild and crazy ones, that sparked a new comedy that's rated R for raunchy.

Jason Bateman struggles to keep his focus while all about him are losing their minds during an 'Office Christmas Party' so epic, it took a couple of months to shoot.

"There was one couple that was hired because they were a couple and they were supposed to be kinda making out throughout the party. It was kinda like a runner, and they got fired because they took it too far," said Bateman.

His boss is played by Jennifer Aniston, and this is the fifth movie to feature the pair's unique chemistry.

"It's not tangible. It's something that's either there or it's not there," said Aniston.

Filming of her latest comedy had been completed when the actress wrote an open letter to the tabloids.

Faced with more rumors of a baby bump, she wrote, "For the record I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up".

"The plea and the hope is that we think differently," said Aniston. "We literally stop buying into it: the tabloids and the viewing of women through such a very narrow lens."

"It must have been good finally to finally say something back," I said.

"It was wonderful. It was extremely liberating, and I did it for that reason," she said.

As the boss of Bateman's character and the brother of T.J. Miller's, Aniston shows again she is one of the best re-actors in comedy.

But you may be surprised to find Courtney B. Vance in the middle of this mayhem, and so was he!

"Cuz in my mind I said 'that's not going to be me. I'm not gonna be doing that. That's gonna be Jason.' Then all of a sudden that's 'I'm doin' that?! Yeah? OK,'" said Vance.

The man on the right sliding at the end of the video just won an Emmy Award for playing Johnnie Cochran in "The People vs. O.J. Simpson".

Courtney B. Vance told me he didn't know precisely what he signed on for, but he went with it.

And he makes the movie funnier just because he is so well-known for playing dramatic parts.

I'll have a review of the movie in the noon hour of Eyewitness News Friday.