Horrible Bosses, a film in which three disgruntled and abused employees take matters into their own hands by planning the murder of their bosses, is a brilliantly funny movie; however, I did expect more.
Although this dark comedy has the gags, the action, and the ability to make the audience connect with the main characters, it just was not on a par with other comedy gems such as The Hangover and this year’s female-led rival Bridesmaids or indeed the Irish contribution to the comedy hall of fame, The Guard. The laugh-o-meter was just not that high enough for Horrible Bosses, however it is not bad either and certainly deserves credit for the excellent acting by Keven Spacey, who plays psycho business overlord Dave Harkin.
Colin Farrell also proved his diversity, sporting a comb-over for his role as the disgusting drug-addled chemical company boss Bobby Pellit, and right out of her comfort zone was Jennifer Anniston, who for once left the girl-next-door roles behind and took a chance with the sex-obsessed vulgur man-eater Dr Julia Harris. These bosses have one thing in common, they seem to take pleasure in making the lives of three employees - all best buddies - unbearable. While drowning their sorrows and trying to win the ‘who has the worst job’ game, they realise that it would be impossible to leave their jobs during this economic climate and hatch a plan to kill their bosses.
Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman ) has been working his butt off for years, however his boss, Harkin, takes every opportunity, even when he is two minutes late, to make his life hell. The final straw comes when the promotion that Hendricks has been waiting for is taken away from him, with Harkin deciding to give it to himself instead. Meanwhile Dale Arbus (Charlie Day ) is dreaming of the day he becomes a husband, the problem is his dentist boss, who is determined to constantly sexually harass him. Kurt Buckman’s (Jason Sudeikis ) job is a dream, that is until his boss dies, leaving his drug addicted psychopathic son to take over. Finally having enough, they devise a plan, a really really bad plan, to murder their bosses, starting with an ill-advised trip to a crime-riddled part of town where they meet supposed hardman Dean ‘Mother Fucker’ Jones (Jamie Foxx ) who gives ‘consultation advice’ on the perfect murder, basically make it look accidental. The only problem is these three guys are accidental, with one mishap after another, leading to one of their intended victims doing the unexpected.
As comedies go Horrible Bosses is certainly one of the best, with plenty of laughs and twists and turns, however it just was not good enough.
Verdict: 4/5
