Horrible Bosses - Theatrical Review

HORRIBLE BOSSES

Release Date: July 8, 2011

Talk about your mixed feelings...I mean I really like most of the people in this movie but there are others I could care less about and others that I like sometimes but not so much other times. Even when purchasing my ticket I found myself going back and forth on whether or not to see this or Super 8 again. Luckily for me it all turned out alright in the end.




Review Vital Stats:
Theater: AMC 12 Downtown Disney
Time: 5:40 pm July 8, 2011
Projector Type: Digital 2D

Biases:
Loves: Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey
Likes: Jason Bateman, Colin Farrell, R-rated comedies
Neutral: Jennifer Aniston
Hates: Bosses
Strange: Only the women from the TV show Friends seemed to find careers

What a brilliant concept for a comedy. Who doesn't want to murder their boss or at least see something terrible happen to them? Horrible Bosses isn't the first film to mine this lucrative territory but that's alright in this case. As I often tell people, I don't care if it has been done before but if you're gonna do it again make sure to bring something new to the table. In the case of this film that new idea was to not have just one type of boss to have our "heroes" take down but three very distinct and parodied personalities.  But they are just the window dressing for what is essentially a buddy flick with three down on their luck guys who believe that if their bosses were out of the way life would be so much easier on them. It would be easy to tag this as a Hangover wanna-be or any other movie that features a group of friends working together towards a common goal but I think that would be shortchanging what is one of the funnier films to come out this year.

Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman), Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) have been friends for years but all three have very different and distinct jobs they work at. Nick works in your every day business environment amongst a sea of cubicles where he is expected to be promoted soon, Dale is a dental assistant at the only place that would hire him due to an unfortunate incident at a local playground where his penis was involved and Kurt works at a warehouse where he has visions of becoming the boss one day by sucking up to his likable and very old boss. The one thing all three of them have in common though is what most would consider to be an a royal pain in the ass. And anyone that has worked long enough in our current business world knows that the bigger the A-hole you are the quicker you ascend the ranks and get promoted. Such is the case with these three A-holes.

The guys hatch a plan to murder each others boss.

Nick's boss Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey) is the slimy exec that only thinks of himself and makes it his personal mission to destroy the lives of everyone that works beneath him. Dale's boss Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) makes it a point to not only fondle her patients while they are asleep but also make continuous passes at Dale's genitalia despite him being engaged to be married. Finally there is Kurt who doesn't really have a problem with his boss...just his bosses son Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell) who just so happens to have a heavy cocaine problem on top of being a royal ass. All three men want to be free but none are willing to take the next step to rub them out...that is until the day arrives when all three are pushed to far and decide to free themselves of this burden once and for all.

Like I said this is more or less a buddy comedy with the three friends getting involved in something that they have no idea how to do, when to do it or how to not get caught for doing it. So it doesn't take a genius to figure out that when they do finally work themselves up to do the deed that every single step they take or idea they come up with ends in complete and utter failure. While I liked all three actors and they all shared a good amount of screen chemistry with each other (although Charlie Day is reprising his role from It's Always Sunny more or less) I didn't find much of the humor found in the film to come from their performances. The true stars of the show are the three bosses and all the crazy mayhem and mischief that the three friends cause while trying to murder said bosses.

The psycho.

Kevin Spacey was the perfect man to play his part. Anyone that has ever seen the very small and very old film Swimming with Sharks where he played a bloodsucking boss will immediately remember why nobody can do smarmy and inconsiderate better than him. Every scene where we see him degrade, humiliate and otherwise stomp on poor Nick we learn to love him because of how much we hate him. He is without a doubt the personification and melting pot for the average dipshit American boss. The more he goes on about Nick's supposed drinking problem (that he himself instigated) and how Nick will rot the rest of his life away under his foot only serves to make it that more delicious later on when he gets what we hope are his just deserves.

Jennifer Aniston was a big question mark for me because quite honestly I never truly found her to be all that intriguing as an actor. Of the three actors they gathered for these roles I went into this not expecting a whole lot from her but you know what...I actually thought she kicked all kinds of ass in this juicy role (she squirts ya know). Not only did I find her to be pretty damn funny in her role as a man crushing bitch but I also shared the same sentiments that Dale's friends did which was that I didn't really see what he had to complain about. That was sort of a problem for me because I found myself hoping that she wouldn't get knocked off because I didn't really have a problem with her advances towards Dale. Perhaps it's because I'm single or maybe because I am one of those guys that would have killed to be molested by a hot teacher in high school but I would want a woman like Jennifer Aniston to ravage me in any and every way humanly possible.

The maneater.

I would like to apologize that this review is incomplete. It has only recently come to my attention that a good portion of this review has simply vanished somehow. I am unsure if it we get fixed but for now just let me offer what I believer were my final words on the film. I thought it was a surprisingly funny film that worked on many levels and anyone looking for a fun little comedy should definitely...

CHECK IT OUT

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Posted in: Theatrical Reviews