A really odd thing happened after all was said and done watching Horrible Bosses.
The film is billed as a comedy wherein Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day plot to kill their a-hole bosses. Normally when a film is billed as a comedy this year, it falls short (Just Go With It, Take Me Home Tonight, etc.).
Thankfully, all six major players in Horrible Bosses (the employees and the employers) knew what they needed to give to their characters and the film is fairly consistent at delivering laughs. Obviously, going into much detail about the plot would only ruin punch lines so we’ll just leave it there.
Much of the credit obviously goes to that cast, which shared a wonderful chemistry. Bateman’s more deadpan style contrasted beautifully with the spasticness of Day and the blowhard stylings of Sudeikis.
As for the bosses, Kevin Spacey got to relive a little bit of his Glengarry Glen Ross/Swimming With Sharks history; Colin Farrell clearly enjoyed playing a coked out, whore-loving, ungrateful bad boy; and Jennifer Aniston held a clinic on how to sexually harass your co-worker.
The supporting cast was also up to scratch, with Jamie Foxx, Ioan Gruffudd, and Julie Bowen all adding to the mix. There’s even a super quick cameo with King of Kong’s Steve Wiebe as a security guard, probably thanks to director Seth Gordon who helmed both films.
While the overall effort was enjoyable and spotlighted a very funny cast, this probably still won’t land itself in the pantheon of great comedies. There’s a disjointed nature to how the story develops, which is good for the runtime of 100 minutes but there wasn’t a great deal of fluidity when it came to transitioning between scenes. Also, as much fun as Day and Sudeikis are having with each other, you can see the exact same wacky friendship between the pair in 2010’s Going the Distance.
However, if asked whether one should see the ridiculously over-rewarded The Hangover Part II or this, I’d answer with the latter in a heartbeat and hope moviegoers trying not to spend an entire month’s paycheck on films this year will choose wisely. Horrible Bosses is as dark as it needs to be and as goofy as it can be – something the Wolfpack didn’t quite understand.
GRADE: B
Horrible Bosses hits theaters on July 8, 2011 and is rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug material.
