Corporate Animals is a 2019 comedy/horror film about an egotistical megalomaniac CEO and her assistants on a corporate team-building caving weekend to New Mexico.
Incredible Edible Cutlery is on the cutting edge of changing the face of ending the wasteland of refuse and waste decimating the planet, offering consumers cutlery you can eat. To motivate her team, CEO Lucy (Demi Moore), an out-of-touch leader, brings a collection of her top employees out into the desert for some organized team building exercises, relying on program guide Brandon (Ed Helms) to lead them through a series of training grounds. But when Lucy demands they head into the advanced cave systems, he’s reluctant at first, but gives in, taking them into the abyss. However, when an earthquake strikes, it kills Brandon and seals the team inside, leaving them with limited options.
Maybe none of the above sounds remotely like fodder for a comedy, but that’s exactly what director Patrick Brice‘s is after, starting with a cheesy infomercial about the company’s product before introducing Lucy, she a wildly aggressive, self-centered and detached woman, who strives for dominance over a gang of expected misfits, They include Gloria (Martha Kelly), Jess (Jessica Williams), Derek (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), Victoria (Wendy Meredith), Freddie (Karan Soni), Billy (Dan Bakkedahl), Aidan (Calum Worthy), Suzy (Nasim Pedrad), May (Jennifer Kim), and Ian (Frank Bond), a motley bunch who have no right to be traipsing about the rigorous cave system save for their ridiculous boss, who claims she’s 1/64 Native American so is inherently imbibed with the necessary skills to handle it.
Some of this is funny, the potshots at corporate-ese workplace dysfunction always an easy target, and writer Sam Bain using the odd setting to fill up his story with strikes at an ego-driven business model. With rock walls and low lighting, the theme feels somewhat fresh as these struggling workers dole out their frustrations about working for Lucy’s mismanagement under the roof of a near collapsing cave. As the days pass (marked by huge letters splashed on screen), the failing employees fall into chaos, tossing blame and anger at Lucy as truths come crashing around them. Meanwhile, possible sustenance lies died nearby, with Brandon putting them in even dire conflict.
As they bicker and squabble, delirium takes hold, and it’s fodder for some genuine laughs, even as things move along fairly quickly. You can’t help but wonder what you would do in the same situation, but the balance between the funny and the horror is a thin one and doesn’t deliver the truly satirical jabs it feels ready to serve up. This is a good cast, some with plenty of comedy notching their belts already, though they can’t quite sustain the momentum of its premise, the story more suitable for a skit than a full length film.
Moore is pretty funny and has good timing with the large ensemble players, but the jokes aren’t as hefty as they should be, the frights not as gruesome as they could be, and the commentary not as on target as it wants to be, the Lord of the Flies mentality and cannibalism not as funny as the filmmakers think it is. Sure, a bit of this is inspired madness and maybe some will identify with its barbs, but the carnage doesn’t stick with the same ferocity. Sporadically funny, this is a near miss.