Rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug material
Cast: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell
Director: Seth Gordon
It's not that the movie combines raunchiness and charm. It's that it does it so effortlessly. "Horrible Bosses" has all the components required of the most crude of comedies, yet it somehow doesn't feel as raunchy as "The Hangover: Part II" or "Bridesmaids."
I credit the actors. Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day play Nick, Kurt, and Dale... three hapless working-class souls at the occupational mercy of superiors who wage various forms of sadism. All are supremely gifted comic actors. They obviously don't play it straight here; all embrace the solid comic material and relish the opportunity to deliver zingers strewn throughout their verbal exchanges. But each is inherently likable as well, enough that none come off as merely performing shtick. We accept them as three exasperated nine-to-fivers in a premise as endearingly ludicrous as this.
It helps to have the right actors playing the respective Antichrists. The movie doesn't let us down here, either. Nick's boss is Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), a venomous corporate president who torments Nick mercilessly, then refuses to promote him to VP, opting instead to inherit the duties himself (along with a healthy 85% of the VP salary). He also plans to smash the wall between the two offices to make one grand base of operations.
Kurt's new supervisor is Bobby Pellit (Colin Farrell), a coke head extraordinaire who inherited the top job in a chemical company from his recently deceased father (Donald Sutherland). Sporting bugged-out eyes and a comb-over, he believes maximizing profits means ordering Kurt to "trim the fat." (Bobby's translation: fire the fat people. "They're slow, lazy, and they make me sad to look at," is his inane reasoning.)
The recently-engaged Dale, meanwhile, works as a dental assistant to Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), a salivating, prurient tempest of ribaldry who can barely wait for the anesthesia to take hold of the patient before lunging at Dale's crotch.
All would love nothing more than to unearth more fulfilling employment, but Nick and Kurt fear the effects of the recession while Dale's ability to find another job is hampered by his unfortunate inclusion into the sex offender database... he's not really an offender; he just got caught taking a leak in a playground in the dead of night with no children around. ("Who builds a playground outside of a bar?" he demands.) They determine their best course of action is to kill their bosses, though none has the slightest clue on how to accomplish this. With nowhere to turn, the guys venture to a seedy part of the city and solicit the advice of Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx), a self-proclaimed "expert" on such matters. (His real name is Dean Jones, like the actor from "Herbie: The Love Bug." But, as he tells the guys... "I can't walk around these parts with that Disney-ass name!")
My main complaint with a lot of comedies is indolence. "Horrible Bosses" is certainly not lazy. It wants to be a great comedy, and marches confidently and methodically toward that goal. TV veteran director Seth Gordon gets solid comic performances from his actors that never seem strained (as occasionally happened in "Hangover II") while keeping the pace up and not overstaying its welcome (as "Bridesmaids" came dangerously close to doing). I was also pleasantly surprised at the story's unpredictability. We're not talking anything labyrinthine here, but the screenplay by Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan Goldstein did contain certain developments I didn't see coming.
This doesn't quite rise to the level of classic comedy, but it's skillfully acted, confidently directed, and cast to perfection. (After years of mind-numbing roles, Jennifer Aniston finally chose one she can really sink her comic chops into. What took her so long?) As boisterous, pounding 3D action lights up screens in multiplexes around the country, this one opts for a comically-charged-yet-intellectually-siphoned chess match between three engaging goofballs tired of eating shit and three boorish twits who never tire of force-feeding it.
* * * out of * * * * stars
I credit the actors. Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day play Nick, Kurt, and Dale... three hapless working-class souls at the occupational mercy of superiors who wage various forms of sadism. All are supremely gifted comic actors. They obviously don't play it straight here; all embrace the solid comic material and relish the opportunity to deliver zingers strewn throughout their verbal exchanges. But each is inherently likable as well, enough that none come off as merely performing shtick. We accept them as three exasperated nine-to-fivers in a premise as endearingly ludicrous as this.
It helps to have the right actors playing the respective Antichrists. The movie doesn't let us down here, either. Nick's boss is Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), a venomous corporate president who torments Nick mercilessly, then refuses to promote him to VP, opting instead to inherit the duties himself (along with a healthy 85% of the VP salary). He also plans to smash the wall between the two offices to make one grand base of operations.
Kurt's new supervisor is Bobby Pellit (Colin Farrell), a coke head extraordinaire who inherited the top job in a chemical company from his recently deceased father (Donald Sutherland). Sporting bugged-out eyes and a comb-over, he believes maximizing profits means ordering Kurt to "trim the fat." (Bobby's translation: fire the fat people. "They're slow, lazy, and they make me sad to look at," is his inane reasoning.)
The recently-engaged Dale, meanwhile, works as a dental assistant to Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), a salivating, prurient tempest of ribaldry who can barely wait for the anesthesia to take hold of the patient before lunging at Dale's crotch.
All would love nothing more than to unearth more fulfilling employment, but Nick and Kurt fear the effects of the recession while Dale's ability to find another job is hampered by his unfortunate inclusion into the sex offender database... he's not really an offender; he just got caught taking a leak in a playground in the dead of night with no children around. ("Who builds a playground outside of a bar?" he demands.) They determine their best course of action is to kill their bosses, though none has the slightest clue on how to accomplish this. With nowhere to turn, the guys venture to a seedy part of the city and solicit the advice of Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx), a self-proclaimed "expert" on such matters. (His real name is Dean Jones, like the actor from "Herbie: The Love Bug." But, as he tells the guys... "I can't walk around these parts with that Disney-ass name!")
My main complaint with a lot of comedies is indolence. "Horrible Bosses" is certainly not lazy. It wants to be a great comedy, and marches confidently and methodically toward that goal. TV veteran director Seth Gordon gets solid comic performances from his actors that never seem strained (as occasionally happened in "Hangover II") while keeping the pace up and not overstaying its welcome (as "Bridesmaids" came dangerously close to doing). I was also pleasantly surprised at the story's unpredictability. We're not talking anything labyrinthine here, but the screenplay by Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan Goldstein did contain certain developments I didn't see coming.
This doesn't quite rise to the level of classic comedy, but it's skillfully acted, confidently directed, and cast to perfection. (After years of mind-numbing roles, Jennifer Aniston finally chose one she can really sink her comic chops into. What took her so long?) As boisterous, pounding 3D action lights up screens in multiplexes around the country, this one opts for a comically-charged-yet-intellectually-siphoned chess match between three engaging goofballs tired of eating shit and three boorish twits who never tire of force-feeding it.
* * * out of * * * * stars
