Review: Horrible Bosses

#117 - Horrible Bosses


Horrible Bosses centers around three friends who absolutely hate their bosses. Nick's boss screwed over his chance at a promotion by taking on the position himself...even though he's already the president of the company; Dale's boss is a sex-crazed maniac that keeps trying to rape him in her dentist's chair...even though he's engaged to another woman; and Kurt's boss is a coke head that has no idea how to run a business. One day, they all get so fed up with their jobs and their lives that they all decide to kill their bosses. They set out on a ridiculous recon mission to gain intel on what would easily end each of their bosses. In the process, they accidentally leave traces everywhere, which gets Kurt's boss killed by Nick's boss. As they are on the run from the police, Nick's boss intercepts them and threatens to shoot all three of them because they know he shot Kurt's boss. The plan is foiled when Kurt's GPS navigator records the entire confession from Nick's boss, and the cops haul him off to prison. All that is left is Dale's boss. With the help of a couple extra friends, they frame Dale's boss instead of killing her. In the end, all of the guys get exactly what they want: peace and a great work environment.

The first time I watched this movie in the theater, I thought it was hilarious. Boy, was I wrong. I think I was too dazzled by the amazing talents of Jason Bateman and Charlie Day to realize the dumb story line. Yes, there are many of us that would not be sad if our boss was killed (I am not one of them. I love my current boss), but for three morons like Nick, Dale, and Kurt to pull something this extravagant off? Yeah right. No wonder so many things go wrong. There isn't anywhere in reality that something like this would ever be able to get accomplished by three normal guys. I guess that's what the point of the movie is though...everything goes wrong because they ARE amateurs. I just really think that the jokes don't hit the mark until the very end of the film. Charlie Day's explosion on Jennifer Aniston in the dentist's office is phenomenal. When I look back at the entire film, that's probably the only scene I really laughed at. Jason Sudeikis is so absolutely gorgeous, but he is a terrible comedian. Even on SNL, I found myself staring blankly at the screen, waiting for him to be done with his sketch. He's not funny. At all. His character constantly being obsessed with sex gets old, and it causes a problem for the other two characters-  which doesn't make me believe that someone like Nick's character would even associate himself with someone like Kurt. The dynamic of the three guys together is odd. I'm not even sure if they ever mention how they met - that might be an interesting story. I'd be intrigued to know why Nick and Dale put up with Kurt.

Is it a decent movie? Yes. Colin Farrell is fantastic in this. He is such an oddball, that you can't help but get sucked into watching his every move. He fully takes on the character, and it's awesome to see. I also think I really like Jennifer Aniston's character, which is weird because I'm not a Jennifer Aniston fan. This is the first role of hers EVER that challenged her to not be Rachel from Friends. She's so one-dimensional in everything else, but in this, it allowed her to really have fun with her character. I wish she would take on more risky roles. Then I may actually start to like her.

Overall, this is a film that the more you watch it, the less funny it gets. The jokes aren't surprising anymore, so they lose their appeal.


I give Horrible Bosses 3 out of 5 stars...purely because Jason Bateman is perfection.