Adam Collins posted on July 08, 2011 00:00
We’ve all had that boss. If you are a boss, you are probably someone’s “that boss.” Horrible Bosses takes the ridiculous concept of killing that boss, and gives it free reign to run and see where it goes. From a script written by three television writers and directed by a television director, Horrible Bosses flew higher than I ever imagined. This is the fourth R-rated comedy to come out this summer. I have not been overly impressed with any of them. Hangover Part IIwas a letdown. Bridesmaids was overly long. Bad Teacher was better than the first two, but still nothing special. Horrible Bosses far exceeded all of these.
Horrible Bosses follows three guys, Nick (Bateman), Dale (Day), and Kurt (Sudeikis) who work for three terrible bosses: Harken (Spacey), Dr. Harris (Aniston) and Pellitt (Farrell) respectively. The guys decide one night after a few too many drinks, that their lives would be better if they killed their bosses. So, they decide to hire a hitman to take out their bosses.
The first attempt was a hilarious cameo by Ioan Gruffudd. Next, the trio makes their way to a shady part of town via the navigation system in Kurt’s car. There, they hire Dean “MF” Jones to be their murder consultant. Jamie Foxx is comedic gold in this role. So, the plan is simple. Each one of the guys will kill another one’s boss. Of course, things do not go as planned. I do not want to give anything away. The trailer for Horrible Bosses is brilliant. It does not give all the funny parts away. The parts in the trailer are still funny, if not funnier, in the film. That is no easy feat.
As I sat there, laughing my ass off, I realized, the only real acting is coming from the three bosses and Jamie Foxx. Jason Bateman was nothing more than he has been since Arrested Development. Charlie Day is just Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And I really do not think Jason Sudeikis is funny. I don’t know why, but he just doesn’t make me laugh. On the other hand, Kevin Spacey is tremendous as the power hungry, mean as hell boss. Jennifer Aniston really stepped outside her usual rom-com self and played a great horny, sexual harassing dentist. And Colin Farrell, who didn’t have enough screen time in the movie, was awesome as the cokehead boss. His best scenes are in the credits. On top of all this, there are cameos from Julie Bowen, Donald Sutherland, Wendell Pierce, Ron White and Bob Newhart.
Horrible Bosses did something exceptional here. It made me laugh and while being smart at the same time. I look forward to more from the guys behind this movie. I just hope that being the fourth movie of this genre to come out, it does not suffer. It would be a shame if this movie doesn’t make New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. some serious cash. I know that Hangover and Bridesmaids made loads of money, but that doesn’t make them great films. Transformers 2 made over $400 million, and it was almost unwatchable. Finally, if you haven’t figured it out, I highly recommend this movie as a great way to spend a few hours this weekend.
And, no, my bosses are not horrible. Not that they are reading this. But, just in case…
Rating: 8.5/10