While it’s not quite as hilarious as ‘Bridesmaids’ was (I doubt many things this year will be though), ‘Horrible Bosses’ is still one of the funnier films of 2011 to date. It manages to take a pretty light (and I’ll go so far as to say mildly crappy) plot and spin it into something incredibly entertaining. A large portion of the credit goes to the ensemble cast, who all knock this one out of the comedic part. Everyone pulls their weight, and the enjoyment they had while making this really shows. Director Seth Gordon has improved dramatically since his first foray into comedy filmmaking (the dreadful ‘Four Christmases’), and this feels closer to his winning documentary ‘The King of Kong’ in terms of directorial confidence. The script has enough jokes to make things move, and the actors do the rest.
Nick (Jason Bateman) has a horrible boss. His name is David Harken (Kevin Spacey) and he’s every company man’s nightmare. He’s a boss who uses the hint of a promotion to get you to work hard, and never praises you. He constantly looks for things to berate you about, and respects you not one iota. Nick wants to quit when Harken takes the promotion for himself, but he’s assured that Harken will prevent him from going to any other company. He’s stuck. Nick’s friend Dale (Charlie Day) also has a horrible boss. She’s Dr. Julia (Jennifer Aniston), a sex crazed dentist who seems solely concerned with sexually harassing Dale. She’s perfectly attractive (if a raging nymphomaniac), but Dale’s engaged and respects his vows. He’s also a sex offender (through a misunderstanding), so no one else will hire him. He’s stuck. Nick and Dale’s friend Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) doesn’t have a horrible boss, luckily. His boss Jack (Donald Sutherland) is the best boss ever, and treats him like a son. Nothing could be better…until Jack dies suddenly and his coke-head son Bobby (Colin Farrell) takes over. He has no interest in his father’s work except to make the money, and is overall a vile human being. Kurt is heartbroken and hates Bobby for it. He hates him so much, he’d love to see him die. Nick and Dale eventually agree, and think that all their bosses should cease to exist. With the help of a self titled “murder consultant” named Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx), they set out to, well…kill each other’s bosses. Of course, nothing goes as planned, but luckily hilarity does in fact ensue.
As the straight man of sorts, Bateman is completely at home. Much of his humor is lower key and in response to the idiocy of his friends, but he’s our entry into the story and the character most will be able to best identify with. He has the most thankless role, but he’s still very good and funny in all the right places. As his foil, Spacey is having a ball putting a comedic spin on all of his office shark type roles in the past. He doesn’t play the role for laughs on most occasions, and the result is hilarious because of it. They have a great pairing, but for my money, the pairing of Day and Aniston is the best. Charlie Day is doing pretty much the same role he played in ‘Going the Distance’, but it’s just as funny here. Jennifer Aniston gets a chance to let loose and sex it up, and it’s one of the 5 funniest performances of the year so far. Their interactions are side-splittingly funny. I can’t repeat any of their conversations here, but hearing those words come out of her mouth is bound to
make you giggle. Sudeikis and Farrell have the most broad roles, as one is a pussy hound and the other is a coke snorting virus of a pussy hound. Credit goes to Jason Sudeikis for still making his character lovable, as well as credit to Colin Farrell for embracing the horrific nature of his character. Foxx is only in a few scenes, but as the questionably dangerous thug helping them out, he’s very solid. In supporting turns, we have the aforementioned Sutherland, as well as cameos from Ron White, Ion Gruffold, and Bob Newhart. The cast literally makes this film work.
Gordon is a no frills director, and by entrusting his cast to do their job, the result is something hilarious. He’s much better here than he was in the past, so he’s definitely honed his skills with his television work. I look forward to him
directing something again soon. In terms of the script, scribes John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, and Michael Markowitz (who also came up with the story) make up for their less than stellar plotting with a load of good one liners
and enough material for their actors to go off and have a blast, which leads to the audience having a blast as well. None of the work is awards caliber, but everyone does their job and the end result is high quality.
‘Horrible Bosses’ is a rather hilarious comedy that wears its R rating on its sleeve. 2011 has been a nice year for the R rated comedy (which goes through fits and starts. It showed its potential for blockbuster status with the ‘American Pie’ franchise and the films of Judd Apatow, but more often than not they attract limited business). Not since the summer of ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ and ‘Wedding Crashers’ has their been a multitude of popular R rated comedies on pace to potentially break the 100 million dollar barrier (‘The Hangover: Part II’ did that in about 6 minutes, and this one has a great chance to do it, along with ‘Bad Teacher’…and ‘The Change-Up is still to come this summer). I’m thrilled this is as good as it is. There’s literally nothing horrible about this film, so check it out!
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