Movie Review: Horrible Bosses

Jul 27 2011 by Ian Bunting, Airdrie & Coatbridge

COMEDY Horrible Bosses tells the story of friends Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) and their frustration with respective employers, Dave (Kevin Spacey), Bobby (Colin Farrell) and Julia (Jennifer Aniston).

The three become so angry with their bosses that they conspire to take the ultimate action to put a stop to them; murder.

Horrible Bosses plays like a more foul mouthed version of the Dolly Parton-starring 9 to 5... with escalated violence and mayhem.

Director Seth Gordon’s last big screen effort was the dire Four Christmases, but thankfully Horrible Bosses is a significant improvement.

You won’t laugh yourself silly but there are enough funny lines and situations to keep you going.

Some of the cast have worked together before. Bateman and Aniston starred in last year’s average The Switch but are on stronger ground here.

A solid-as-ever Bateman keeps remarkably straight-faced and Aniston plays against her usual fluffy rom-com type as a sexually charged dentist.

Sudeikis and Day proved to be real scene stealers in 2010’s Going the Distance and they remain very likeable.

Day gets the most manic and physical comedy and is the closest Horrible Bosses gets to a Zach Galifianakis-type character, although he reminds me more of Joshua Gomez from the TV show Chuck.

Despite a dodgy combover, Farrell doesn’t get enough screen time to stand out from the pack in his first true stab at comedy but Spacey convinces as a smarmy, loathsome company head.

Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein penned the story and all have backgrounds in television writing.

Their dialogue translates well to the big screen but characters referencing movies felt a little shoehorned in.

But the writing team manage to create plenty of fun scenarios for the cast to run with.

Spilled cocaine leads to some top scenes with Day and Bateman and Jamie Foxx’s (Dean) ‘murder consultant’ offers up a few laughs, particularly with his poor negotiating skills.

The sequence where Nick, Kurt and Dale try to find a hitman leads to hi-jinks and the film’s funniest moment when Welshman Ioan Gruffudd cameos. Two words; ‘wet work.’

An ever-chaotic finale wraps things up as well as a comedy with a crazy premise can and even leaves the door open for a sequel.

I’m not sure the concept has the mileage for another go-around but the film has been a Stateside box office success and to steal a line from Derek Zoolander, adult comedies are “so hot right now.”

So don’t be surprised if we see a second entry but for now make do with the disposable but entertaining fun that Horrible Bosses provides.

Rating - 6 out of 10.