Rated R (Crude and Sexual Content,
Pervasive Language and some Drug Material)
Running Time: 1 Hour & 40 Minutes
Cast:
Jason Bateman-Nick Hendricks
Charlie Day-Dale Arbus
Jason Sudeikis-Kurt Buckman
Kevin Spacey-Dave Harken
Jennifer Aniston-Dr. Julia Harris
Colin Farrell-Bobby Pellitt
Jamie Foxx-Dean 'Motherf*cker' Jones
Donald Sutherland-Jack Pellit
Julie Bowen-Rhonda Harken
P.J. Byrne-Kenny Sommerfeld
Lindsay Sloane-Stacy
Directed by Seth Gordon
 |
| These three friends want to kill their...horrible bosses! |
With virtually no job growth in June and
the unemployment rate steadily climbing to 9.2%, now is certainly not the time
to tell your boss off, even if your hatred runs so deep that you want to
strangle him/her to death—hypothetically speaking, of course. Stories of
disgruntled employees resenting their supervisors are a dime a dozen in today’s
working world but for three close friends, enough is enough as they take
matters into their own hands and clumsily attempt to murder their respective
bosses who have made their lives a living hell. The fourth R-rated comedy
released this summer, “Horrible Bosses” suffers from a plot that relies on too
many contrived coincidences but manages to overcome these flaws thanks to its
sharply-written dialogue and brilliant cast who display excellent comic timing
to go along with their outlandish performances.
Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman),
Dale Arbus (Charlie Day), and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) are three best
friends who despise their bosses with a passion. Nick has been working at a
large financial firm for eight years but his supervisor, Dave Harken (Kevin
Spacey), constantly abuses him. Swallowing his pride, Nick takes the abuse in
the hopes that it would earn him a promotion. Dale is recently engaged and
works as a dental assistant with Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), who
sexually harasses him constantly by making vulgar comments and even fondles her
patients. Kurt is an accountant at an industrial chemical company called
Pellitt Chemicals whose previous boss, Jack Pellitt (Donald Sutherland),
suddenly passes away due to a fatal heart attack, leaving his son Bobby (Colin
Farrell) in charge. High on cocaine all the time, Bobby forces Kurt to fire
random employees in an attempt to collect all the profits and sell the company
so he can retire to a tropical island. When the three friends meet up at the
local bar, Nick and Kurt joke about how much better their lives would be if
they killed their bosses but Dale admits he would never consider such an
extreme action no matter how much he hates Julia. The next morning, Dale finds
his fiancée, Stacy (Lindsay Sloane), in Julia’s office and explains that Julia
called her up and offered her free dental work as a wedding gift. Once Stacy is
sitting unconscious in the dentist’s chair, Julia again tries to force Dale to
have sex with her on top of his fiancée but he steadfastly refuses. Taking out
an iPad, Julia reveals that she had taken photos of them in various sexual
positions when he was unconscious and threatens to show them to Stacy if he
does not have sex with her. Fed up with being constantly sexually harassed,
Dale barges into Kurt’s house and screams that he wants to kill his boss, for
real this time! Kurt quickly warms up to the idea and Nick reluctantly goes
along. Their first attempt at hiring a hit-man ends in disaster but during a
drive through a bad neighborhood, they encounter Dean ‘Motherf*cker’ Jones
(Jamie Foxx), who reveals that he can take care of their ‘problem’ for $30,000.
The three friends refuse and he lowers his price to $5000. However, when he is
given the money the next night, Jones alters the agreement and will act as
their ‘murder consultant.’ Using his advice, the three friends go off to try
and kill each other’s bosses but the plan ends up going awry with disastrous
results.
As much as you may resent your supervisor, no sane person would ever
resort to murder but “Horrible Bosses” uses its uniquely dark premise and takes
it as far as it can without being distasteful, resulting in an
ever-increasingly outlandish situation. However, the film does rely on several
contrived coincidences, particularly in the final act, that stretches our
suspension of disbelief but it’s the only real flaw. The brilliant cast is what
makes it all hilarious. Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis display
such a natural camaraderie in their interactions that they actually do seem
like best friends who’ve known each other for a long time. Bateman is the
straight man and is the most level-headed of the group, acting as the voice of
reason and the role suits him like an old glove. As a smooth-talking,
womanizing doofus, Sudeikis displays great comic timing with his seemingly
random comments, such as his wry remark on Harken’s wife (played by the
beautiful Julie Bowen) and how he would ‘bend her over and show her the fifty
states,’ which makes no sense but it's funny because of how it’s said. Charlie
Day is the standout with his hyperactive, manic energy and high-pitched voice.
Fans will recognize him from FX’s television sitcom “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
and Day steals every scene he’s in but also knows when to step back to allow
his co-stars room to shine. It’s this perfect synchronicity that makes these
three leads so enjoyable to watch.
The so-called horrible bosses are excellent
as well with each of them more outrageous than the last. Kevin Spacey is great
as always although his performance feels like a rehash of his previous roles.
He still manages to instill his character with enough craziness as a
psychotically paranoid and abusive supervisor. They may not receive as much
screen-time as Spacey but Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell are a riot as the
other two bosses. Aniston looks sexy as a brunette and I believe I can speak
for all males that if our boss looked like her and begged us repeatedly for
sex, we wouldn’t refuse. In fact, it’s hard-coded into our DNA not to refuse!
She delivers all the vulgar dialogue with such demented deliciousness
and even comes on to Dale dressed in nothing but her lab coat and panties. Many
of Aniston’s roles have been in clichéd, uninspired romantic comedies and it
just goes to show you how funny she can be with the right script. With his bad
comb-over, Farrell is over-the-top as he blatantly snorts coke and hires
prostitutes (even transsexual ones!) at the office. He forces Kurt to fire all
the employees that disgust him, remarking that the fat people are ‘lazy and
they're slow and they make me sad to look at’ and how the disabled creeps him
out while ‘rolling around all day in [their] special little secret chair.’
Unfortunately, that’s the only real scene he gets but he does show up during
the credits in a hilarious bit with a pharmacist. Finally there’s Jamie Foxx in
a minor role as a low-rent murder-for-hire who insists on being called
‘Motherf*cker Jones,’ making seemingly innocuous conversations with him much
more lively.
“Horrible Bosses” was released on July 8, 2011 and has received
positive reviews with 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics called it ‘nasty, uneven,
and far from original, but thanks to a smartly assembled cast that makes the
most of a solid premise, [the film] works.’ With Michael Bay’s loud and inane
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” still reaping box office profits (domestic and
worldwide), “Horrible Bosses” does not stand a chance with a number one debut
and will have to settle for second place. The film is currently on track with
$26 million but with strong word-of-mouth, could even reach $30 million. Kevin
James is hoping to repeat the success of 2009’s “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” with “Zookeeper,”
a talking animal film aimed squarely at children. Despite receiving highly
negative reviews, families will go see this simply because kids have no
discerning taste…but who can really blame them? “Horrible Bosses” could’ve
easily become distasteful with its premise of murder but manages to overcome
this hurdle thanks to the impressive cast who display an amazing amount of
synergy in their comic timing and interactions. With so many R-rated comedies
out right now, this one certainly ranks as one of the best.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5
Dale: You're a raper! You raped me! That's
a rape!
Julia: Just relax there, Jodie Foster.
Your dick wasn't even hard!
Dale: That does not give me any relief…
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