Horrible Bosses

Welcome to another episode Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Horrible Bosses.

Directed by Seth Gordon.

Written by Michael Markowitz and John Francis Daley & Jonathan M. Goldstein.

Screen Story by Michael Markowitz

Review #128

MPAA Rating: R For crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug material.

Runtime: 98 min

Cast

Jason Bateman ... Nick Hendricks

P.J. Byrne ... Kenny Sommerfeld

Kevin Spacey ... Dave Harken

Charlie Day ... Dale Arbus

Jennifer Aniston ... Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S.

Jason Sudeikis ... Kurt Buckman

Meghan Markle ... Jamie

Donald Sutherland ... Jack Pellit

Colin Farrell ... Bobby Pellitt

Ioan Gruffudd ... Wetwork Man

Jamie Foxx ... Dean 'MF' Jones

Julie Bowen ... Rhonda Harken

We've all had them. We might have them right now. You know what I'm talking about. A horrible boss. Now allow me to defend a boss for a second. It's not an easy position to have. The power, the responsibility of maintaining people under you can be and is a stressful position. It takes a certain kind of person to juggle a staff of underlings while maintaining a level of success that can be seen by their superiors.

Does that mean the boss has to be a complete tool to their employees? It depends on the job but for the most part the answer is a resounding NO! Having said that, if you have ever encountered a boss like that, have you ever enticed thoughts of doing said boss harm physically or professionally? Of course you have. If you haven't then you either are the boss or a liar. =)

Regardless, this movie is for you.

Plot

Nick hates his boss, mostly because he's expected to work from before sunrise to after sunset and his boss, Mr. Harken, calls him out for being a minute late and blackmails him so he can't quit. Dale hates his boss, Dr. Julia Harris, because she makes unwelcome sexual advances when he's about to get married. But Dale is on that pesky list of child offenders so he can't quit. Kurt actually likes his job and his boss, well, up until his boss dies and the boss's coked-out, psychopathic son takes over. But who would be crazy enough to quit their jobs in such poor economic times? Instead Nick, Dale and Kurt drunkenly and hypothetically discuss how to kill their bosses, and before they know it, they've hired a murder consultant to help them pull off the three deeds. 

Despite of it's very over the top nature, Horrible Bosses accomplishes one thing very well. It's relate able. The bosses all inspire motives for vengeance and comeuppance. This is presented marvelously by the evil trio of Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Spacey is the worst of the bunch. Farrell is the funniest and Aniston is clearly the sexiest. In fact it's her character that I found the most entertaining. Putting her AMAZING beauty aside, her character was so raunchy and nasty that there was a palpable sexual attraction to her harassment. She really made it hard for me to be on Dale's side of the fence.

The performances of the bosses gets a nice boost from the other trio. The three stooges, Nick, Dale and Kurt. In fact the three stooges are a perfect way to categorize them. Nick plays like Moe. Dale is Curly and Kurt is like Larry with a libido on steroids. They play off each other very well. Dale is over the top just enough to keep from being annoying. Nick plays the voice of reason with just a little bit of renegade and Kurt is a blending of the 2. The film does a pretty good job of showcasing the idiocy of these 3. Then for some odd reason it goes south.

Like I mentioned earlier, the premise of Horrible Bosses is over the top at the outset. Unfortunately it gets more over the top when the film transitions from act 2 to 3. It felt like the original ending was scrapped and this is what they came up with on the fly. It's too bad because it wasn't terrible. It just felt a little under developed for my tastes. Aside from that this film was pretty entertaining throughout with some pretty good laughs along the way.

On the 5 star scale. Horrible Bosses gets 3 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Captain America: The First Avenger. 

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"