Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Jason
Sudeikis) are three high school friends with one thing in common: they all hate
their jobs. Nick is an executive at a
financial firm. He endures all manner of
indignities at the hands of his boss Dave (Kevin Spacey) in hopes of one day
getting a promotion to vice president.
Dale is a dental assistant who must evade the aggressive sexual advances
of his nymphomaniac boss Julia (Jennifer Aniston) on a daily basis. Kurt’s job at an industrial company becomes
an ordeal when an insufferable coke head (Colin Ferrall) inherits the business
from his dead father. After nights of
commiserating at the local bar, the trio comes up with a simple solution: murder. They figure their lives would be much better
if they could kill their bosses. They seek
the help of the seedy Dean Jones (Jamie Foxx) to get the job done. This proves an impossible task, as a series
of bungles and set-backs threatens to ruin everything.
Horrible Bosses is
the latest in what has become a yearly tradition of shock humor films that
center on male bonding. It operates in
the same ballpark as the unnecessary rehash The
Hangover Part II, but is playing in a decidedly different league. The makers of Horrible Bosses have taken the lessons learned by the success of
the original The Hangover and applied
them with a level of timing and restraint that obviously escaped Todd Philips
and company during their second outing with the infamous wolfpack.
Horrible Bosses
employs many of the smart assed touches that have become standard for films of
this type. The introduction of each horrible
boss is characterized by colorful insults that appear onscreen in bold type,
accompanying the voice over dialogue by Jason Bateman. Other than that, the visual presentation of
the film is fairly unremarkable, and that’s a huge positive. Slapstick comedies rarely benefit from a
visual flourishes of any kind.
The plot, which is an absurdist variation on Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, follows a basic
rule of all good comedies: things should never go as planned. The script finds ways to up the ante without
letting things get too surreal. The dilemmas
that the unfortunate trio find themselves in are a natural extension of their
own quirks and inadequacies. None of the
plot machinations feel forced or contrived.
The script sets the dominoes up and allows them to be knocked down one
by one.
The key to a film like this is likeable if somewhat
dimwitted characters. Jason Bateman is, as
expected, the straight man. Bateman has
the deadpan manner to effectively pull this character off, and he does. Charlie Day occupies what can be called the Zach
Galifianakis role. He is the likeable
weirdo who is meant to become the films breakout character. As the film progresses, Day indulges in
histrionics that seem a bit at odds with how the character of Dale was
established in the beginning. Jamie Foxx
is great in his scant moments as Dean Jones.
Spacey, Ferrall, and Aniston clearly understand who their characters
are. They don’t add an ounce more than
is necessary.
The films flaws keep it from being grounded in any sort of
recognizable reality. The guys never
seem to realize the seriousness of what they plan to do until the very last
minute. None of them have what it takes
to kill someone, especially characters who aren’t exactly villains deserving of
horrible deaths. It would have been nice
if the writers had included a moment or two more showing the fellas really having
to ponder the idea of taking a human life.
They could have also made the bosses a bit more evil.
Reservations aside, Horrible
Bosses is funny as Hell. There’s no
other way to describe it. Each joke pays
off satisfyingly. It’s an example of
modern shock humor done right. While there
is a ton of vulgar and raunchy language, there is also a feeling of very slight
restraint. It’s nice to know that some
people still know how to mix a bit of humor in with the gross out
elements. Now if only Todd Philips could
have remembered that, the Hangover Part
II might have been half as enjoyable as Horrible
Bosses.
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