Review of Horrible Bosses (2011) by Durell B — 01 Jul 2014

There is a really good cast here in Horrible Bosses. The three leads being harassed by their bosses all come from cult classic tv shows. Jason Bateman from the uber popular Arrested Development, that in my opinion got cancelled too soon.

Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is alarmingly under-appreciated. Lastly, Jason Sudekis from the long running hit Saturday Night Live. If that were not enough, add to that mix the films "Horrible Bosses" Colin Farrell, Friends alumni Jennifer Aniston and Oscar winner Kevin Spacey.

A fine stew of lead and supporting cast for an audience to eat up. Let's start with Colin Farrell who after his father, played by Donald Sutherland dies becomes boss to Jason Sudekis. Farrell is easily the best boss.

He plays a cocky, demoralizing jackass with a flare for snorting coke and banging hookers. He's so fun to watch. As mean spirited as his jokes may be, Farrell's asshole nature never fails to entertain.

Sudekis is a low key smart ass and Farrell is an asshole so clearly these two are fire vs fire. Then there is Aniston who plays Charlie Day's boss. She is a sex fiend and an HR nightmare who wants Day in bed and in her.

Problem is Day does not appreciate the advances as he is going to be married soon. I'll reserve my opinion on turning down Aniston when she is the aggressor. Certainly not least is Spacey who plays a heartless, self absorbed jerk of a boss to Bateman's reserved and polite straight man.

Bosses really works when the "bosses" are onscreen. Tension is built and hilarity ensues when the three boss haters are ankle deep in arguments, disagreements and unpredictable situations with their despicable employers.

But when the bosses are off screen and only alluded to in conversation by buddies Bateman, Day and Sudekis; Bosses gets boring. More time needed to be spent on truly loving to hate the bosses, rather than the formulaic five minute intro introducing said person and now we as an audience know all we need to know.

With the ground work set our employed trifecta seek a way to eliminate their targets. In enters Jamie Foxx who plays an ex-con in the most stereotypical role in the film. Foxx provides the three with the necessary tools for a perfect murder.

I was not impressed and actually slightly turned off by Foxx in this role. Foxx felt unnecessary and out of place and I feel really was a low point for this movie. I believed it to be just an attempt at needing or just wanting a black character to play contrast to an entirely white cast.

If diversity is what you want, it needs to be organic and not a forced attempt at propelling your ethnic diversity card for the sake of a buck. Unless the joke is the racial barrier which it is not here.

As forementioned I would have liked more scenes with the bosses. There was plenty of sexual uneasiness between Day and Aniston but I feel that is the one we needed to see the least. As adults we get why sexual harassment is bad and I will never advocate infedelity but Day turning down Aniston starts to get annoying.

After all, its a movie and we are talking about Aniston in lingerie. At a point, you're just yelling "do her already"! So instead of more time with the sexual temptress I would have preferred more of Farrell's douche-baggery and Spacey's non sympathetic assholery.

The three buddies work well together but start to feel flat as the movie paces along to a long winded drum without the support of the Bosses. It could have been funnier and a much more solid film provided it cut unnecessary characters and fine tuned structure/motivation as opposed to a generic rush job to an even more generic conclusion.

Again, when the bosses are on the film is uproariously funny.