Under 18's begone!
So a little while ago, the combination of constant heat advisories and crappy window air led me to take in a matinee of just about any movie, simply to escape the beastly weather. I didn't really care what movie it was, but there was one that had caught my eye based on it's cast alone. All I needed to know was that Jason Bateman of Arrested Development and Charlie Day of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia were two of the main characters to get my kiester in the seat. I figured between them and Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Colin Farrel, Jason Sudeikis, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Aniston, and even Steve Weibe of Fistful of Quarters fame, how could you go wrong?
You may have noticed that I rarely cover comedies on here. In fact, this might be the first straight comedy movie I've ever touched on. There are a couple of reasons, first being that I very rarely see comedies in the theater. I always end up inevitably let down by the theater experience when it comes to comedy, no matter how funny the movie is. I find myself wondering why a Will Farrel flick would need digital sound and a screen that huge as much as laughing at the jokes. The other reason I haven't talked about a comedy here is that, probably more than any other kind of movie, Comedy is highly subjective. What's Rolling-in-the-Aisle hilarious to some is eyerollingly lame to others. That said, Horrible Bosses is right up my Aisle.
The basic plot of the film involves three friends who are stuck in No-Win scenarios at their jobs. Nick (Bateman) is a dedicated wage slave who gets stiffed on a big promotion because his boss (Spacey) wants a bigger office. Kurt (Sudeikis) is the right hand man to the owner of a chemical company (Sutherland), until he dies of a sudden heart attack and his cokehead buffoon of a son (Farrel) takes over. Dale (Day) is a dental assistant and engaged to a beautiful woman, but he works for a sexually voracious dentist (Aniston) who is attempting to blackmail him into cheating with her. The three friends meet up at a bar after a particularly rough day, and in their drunken desperation, begin to concoct a scheme to eliminate the people ruining their lives. Permanently. After a chance meeting in a bar in the rough part of town, a former con named "Mother-Fucker" Jones (Foxx) opts out of taking care of their issue, but becomes their "Murder Consultant."
To say that the plot is dependant on the bosses being unbelievable charactures of what a bad boss might be is an understatement. However, it's easy to forgive the over the top nature of the targets in this film when the chemistry between the 3 leads gets going. Jason Bateman and Charlie Day play off each other excellently, and Jason Sudeikis rounds out the crew nicely, particularly when Dale complains about his bosses sexual advances and Kurt comments on how his problem dosen't sound nearly as bad as his or Nick's. And while the bosses are ridiculous, it bears mentioning that they play it so well that it works pretty hilariously well. Kevin Spacey plays the self centered jealous corporate fat cat to a T, Colin Farrel is a convincing drug addled comb-over sporting douche-bag, and perhaps most amazing of all, I actually thought Jennifer Aniston as a sexual deviant and manipulative man-eater was a highlight of the film. And that's saying something, since I normally don't think much of her one way or the other. Jamie Foxx split my sides every time he was on screen, like the days of In Living Color had come again.
As is to be expected in this kind of over the top comedy, the ending of the film is fairly ludicrous, but by the time you get to it, if you are like me, you will be laughing too hard to analyze it. In closing, if you want a good gut laugh and don't mind crude humor or language with a dark streak a mile wide definitely check out Horrible Bosses.
8 "Throw Momma From the Train" References out of 10
