It's safe to say that I had extremely low expectations of Horrible Bosses going into the theater. All three of the lead actors in the film, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day, have been in some horrible films in recent years despite being fairly likable actors. Bateman was in the god-awful The Switch, Sudeikis had the whole Hall Pass incident, and Day was the second banana is a Drew Barrymore rom-com. So, I feel like I was fairly astute in my low expectations of this buddy comedy about three stressed out dudes wanting to murder their bosses.
I am actually fairly shocked about how funny this film turned out. Horrible Bosses is not only surprisingly not horrible but actually pretty hilarious.
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I am actually fairly shocked about how funny this film turned out. Horrible Bosses is not only surprisingly not horrible but actually pretty hilarious.
READ MORE!
Horrible Bosses opens on our three heroes narrating how their bosses suck so hard. Nick (Bateman) is a financial adviser whose evil boss, Harken (Kevin Spacey), cruelly works him to the bone in hopes of receiving a raise that is never coming. Kurt (Sudeikis) is an accountant at a chemical company who's forced to work under a coke addict dickhead (Colin Farrell) whose dad left him the company. And Dale (Day) is a dental assistant for a vulgar, sexually harassing man eater (Jennifer Aniston) who is very open in her persistent pursual.
One night after being pushed too far by their demonic bosses, the trio jokingly decides to off them. Hey, it'd be easier than finding a new job in this economy, right?! They then seek out the seediest (i.e. "blackest") bar in town to find a hitman. What they find is a "murder consultant" named Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx) who gives the great idea to murder each other's bosses. "Hey, it's like that Danny DeVito movie!" Dale exclaims. It is indeed.
Of course, the trio are incredibly inept in murder and hilarity ensues. While, sure the plot is incredibly unoriginal and pretty thin (why would Jennifer Aniston want to have sex with Dale so much? She's a hot dentist! It makes no sense), the film is actually pretty funny. The three leading men have great chemistry with each other and a natural and easy rapport. One of the funniest scenes involves straitlaced Dale and Nick ingesting far too much cocaine and manically trying to Dustbust the evidence.
Of course, Horrible Bosses doesn't just excel on the charms of our three hapless heroes. The supporting cast of Spacey, Farrell, Aniston, and Foxx help boost the yucks of the film. Spacey is great at being an asshole, but both Farrell and Aniston are playing out of their comfort zones and succeeding wildly. You can tell all three of the horrible bosses are having a great time playing despicable human beings, and I had a great time laughing at them.
Horrible Bosses isn't rewriting cinema. It is a tale as old as time. Everyone hates their boss for some reason or other at some time, and anyone who says otherwise must be self-employed. Horrible Bosses feeds on that hatred and makes us laugh and cringe at the absurdity of murdering one's boss. "Ha ha, that's really far-fetched, right?" While the plot may be thin and the jokes may be stupid, Horrible Bosses is one of the funniest films of the summer. Just don't think too hard about it.
--Darcie Duttweiler
One night after being pushed too far by their demonic bosses, the trio jokingly decides to off them. Hey, it'd be easier than finding a new job in this economy, right?! They then seek out the seediest (i.e. "blackest") bar in town to find a hitman. What they find is a "murder consultant" named Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx) who gives the great idea to murder each other's bosses. "Hey, it's like that Danny DeVito movie!" Dale exclaims. It is indeed.
Of course, the trio are incredibly inept in murder and hilarity ensues. While, sure the plot is incredibly unoriginal and pretty thin (why would Jennifer Aniston want to have sex with Dale so much? She's a hot dentist! It makes no sense), the film is actually pretty funny. The three leading men have great chemistry with each other and a natural and easy rapport. One of the funniest scenes involves straitlaced Dale and Nick ingesting far too much cocaine and manically trying to Dustbust the evidence.
Of course, Horrible Bosses doesn't just excel on the charms of our three hapless heroes. The supporting cast of Spacey, Farrell, Aniston, and Foxx help boost the yucks of the film. Spacey is great at being an asshole, but both Farrell and Aniston are playing out of their comfort zones and succeeding wildly. You can tell all three of the horrible bosses are having a great time playing despicable human beings, and I had a great time laughing at them.
Horrible Bosses isn't rewriting cinema. It is a tale as old as time. Everyone hates their boss for some reason or other at some time, and anyone who says otherwise must be self-employed. Horrible Bosses feeds on that hatred and makes us laugh and cringe at the absurdity of murdering one's boss. "Ha ha, that's really far-fetched, right?" While the plot may be thin and the jokes may be stupid, Horrible Bosses is one of the funniest films of the summer. Just don't think too hard about it.
--Darcie Duttweiler
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