Bad Day at the Office isn’t unique in introducing first-person action into its narrative. Karl Urban’s Reaper pulled out all the stops for an FPS-inspired scene in 2005’s Doom, while Hardcore Henry was a whole film made around this concept. Bad Day at the Office has an edge, though, feeling like you guzzled down a six-pack of energy drinks and took whatever rat poison that shady dealer at the club offered you. It’s a nonstop explosion of hyper, for better or worse.
The Mummy‘s John Hannah plays a man who wakes up in a hotel room and can’t remember anything about himself. He presumes his name is Karl Davis because of the label on the heart pills he finds on the table, but he receives a major fright when he spots blood on the floor and a body in the bathtub. Those pills come in handy, since there are instructions to take them whenever his heart rate elevates, and that happens quite a lot here.
After a pair of fake cops storm his hotel room, Karl is aided by the hotel maid Molly (Radha Mitchell), who knows him all too well. The pair escape and embark on a journey to discover who he is and what led to this predicament. Along the way, they encounter a number of wacky enemies, such as a bride-and-groom-themed killer duo and a clown DJ, who all want to take down Karl.
Co-writer and director Chee Keong Cheung borrows from a wide range of influences in Bad Day at the Office. From video games to Quentin Tarantino, anime, Guns Akimbo, and John Wick, it’s a blend of everything all rolled into one joint. Also, Cheung loves to play with color, wrapping the film in a neon, candy-shop, Warhol-inspired aesthetic that makes every scene pop. Coupled with this, the filmmaker uses onscreen text and images to signify moments of additional importance to the audience. As a result, Bad Day at the Office looks unique, ensuring that you’re unlikely to see anything else that resembles it nowadays.
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The noisy and loud visuals complement the frantic nature of the story, which keeps moving at breakneck speed and offers no respite. It also refuses to take itself too seriously, as Karl makes use of adult toys and soaked toilet brushes to take down his foes. It’s all over the place and nonsensical, really, which mirrors Karl’s state of mind; however, the reason for its bizarre nature receives a passable explanation in the end.
Be that as it may, Bad Day at the Office does have a tendency to become too much and a major sensory overload. You aren’t just watching one GoPro from Karl’s point-of-view; you also see events through Molly’s eyes as well as those of other characters. The constant switching between views is equivalent to what happens after you eat too much pizza, drink a lot of soda, and decide to go on a merry-go-round very fast. Let’s say that the aftereffect looks exactly like Karl’s hotel toilet does in the movie.
The film’s runtime doesn’t help matters much, since it’s close to two hours. Even Hardcore Henry knew that the gimmick runs out of steam pretty fast and kept it around 90 minutes. After the first hour, you hope that Bad Day at the Office wraps things up and gives you a moment to grab your bearings, but it goes on and on, which makes it lose some of its appeal.
Even so, Hannah and Mitchell completely commit to the outrageousness, understanding that this isn’t about Oscars or Golden Globes, but it’s all about the experience. Much like a roller coaster ride, Bad Day at the Office is bumpy, unpredictable, and packed with thrills, but it’s something you need to see and feel for yourself at least once.
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Bad Day at the Office debuts in UK and Irish cinemas on October 30, 2026, courtesy of Action Xtreme.
Bad Day at the Office |
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A man with no memory wakes in a wrecked hotel room to find a dead body in his bathtub. Filmed entirely from a first-person POV using GoPros, he and a hotel maid are plunged into a breathless spiral of confusion and conspiracy. |
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| Studio: Action Xtreme |
| Running Time: 1h 51m |
| Release Date: Oct 30, 2026 |
| Cast: John Hannah, Radha Mitchell, Tamer Hassan, Lana Parrilla, Tim Fellingham, Roxanne McKee |
| Director: Chee Keong Cheung |
| Writers: Oliver Morran, Chee Keong Cheung |
| Genre: Action, Comedy |
| Box Office: N/A |
The Review
Bad Day at the Office
Bad Day at the Office is a trip that you need to experience once, but maybe never again afterward.
Review Breakdown
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Verdict
