Ed Helms and Demi Moore in Corporate Animals (Screen Media)

The first 20 minutes or so of Corporate Animals is a hoot. A searing satire of environmentally friendly start-ups and lean in philosophy of corporate female empowerment, it begins with a commercial for edible utensils narrated by the CEO of Incredible Edibles, Jane (Demi Moore). An egotistical nightmare Jane pits employees against each other and demeans her employees, all in the guise of self-improvement. She takes her team, which includes her harried assistant Jess (Jessica Williams), guileless intern Aiden (Calum Worthy), and corporate climber Eddie (Karan Soni), on a team building exercise that eventually goes horribly awry.

Again, this section is a pitch perfect mélange of snappy one-liners, searing satire, and ridiculous circumstances. The scene where the team is goaded to move what is essentially an unmovable rock is priceless. Ed Helms plays the team building leader/tour guide (they are doing this all in the heart of the New Mexico desert), and he is in peak form.

Just as you settle into what you believe is going to be a fierce, funny film, the team becomes trapped in a giant cave, and all the air is let out of your expectation balloon with remarkable speed. Screenwriter Sam Bain (co-creator of the British TV series Peep Show) can’t decide what direction and tone to take his film, so he tries a little of everything, and even then it’s only a half-hearted attempt. A debate on whether the crew should eat a character who dies in a cave-in should feel a lot more transgressive than it does here. Eventually someone brings up the Ethan Hawke cannibal opus Alive as a reference point, which is not a good idea, because that is a much better film.

Corporate Animals includes a host of first-rate comic actors, but no one really gets a handle on the material. Director Patrick Brice manages to keep things running relatively smoothly, but you know you’ve run out of ideas when you decide to include a psychedelic cartoon in the middle of your movie, particularly considering that it isn’t 1969 anymore. By the time we get to a vigorous argument over consent in office sexual relations, apparently in hopes of at least keeping the woke folk interested, the film is already off the rails, albeit in a dull and toothless way. Occasionally a smart one-liner rises from the murk and lands, but overall Corporate Animals is a waste of talent.