Nick (Jason Bateman) is an extremely hard worker who is very good at his job. He has a Horrible Boss (Kevin Spacey) who dangles a big promotion like a carrot to a mule.
Dale (Charlie Day) is a loyal worker who is soon to be married. He has a Horrible Boss (Jennifer Aniston) who talks dirty and menaces him sexually.
Kurt is a hard working second in command in a family owned and run company. He has a great boss who respects him and values his ideas and input.
No wait. Not for long. That wouldn’t work in the movie.
Kurt has a Horrible Boss (Colin Farrell) who is lazy and cares only about himself, drugs and hookers. In fact it is very likely that he will soon run his late Father’s beloved company into the ground.
Phew. That’s better.
So here we have it, three spineless gits who for various tissue thin reasons feel obligated to stay in their current crummy environments regardless of how much they hate working under their respective HB’s, so over one too many beers one evening they hatch a plan to kill them instead.
The ‘genius’ in their plans is that to avoid being implicated each man will kill one of the other’s boss. Of course this will lead the forensics a merry dance and ensure that no-one will be caught.
So with this threadbare premise established the ill equipped trio start ham-fistedly stalking, surveiling and scheming against their unpleasant superiors, with the usual bumblings and (always bad) coincidences and ridiculous turns and twists that such actions demand in these films. It seems that every time a scene or situation builds a tiny bit of momentum something dumb or overly predictable manages to instantly highlight the fact that this film is a blatantly commercial cash grab.
Strangely enough in these films the three leads are largely gormless personality free idiots, it is in fact the three Horrible Bosses who manage to bring a faint hint of laughter to proceedings. Kevin Spacey plays his absolute bastard role to the hilt, bringing not a skerrick of compassion or decency to his over the top character. Aniston too manages to be suitably smarmy to the point where every woman in the audience is positive that their man would succumb to her persistence – and every man insists no while imagining the possibilities of the dentist’s chair…). But the real story here is Colin Farrell in his fat suit and combover hairpiece, his womanizing carefree dick is simultaneously hilarious and repugnant, in fact I have no idea why he has the briefest role out of the 6 leads.
The only other character of note is Jamie Foxx as a guy from a seedy neighbourhood who the guys go to for advice, a man who berates them for thinking that all African Americans are well versed in the ways of crime (while ignoring the fact that he met them in a seedy bar and offered his services, namely his expertise in the ways of crime).
I liked parts of the film, the Jamie Foxx scenes are actually pretty funny and some of the scenes involving the Horrible Bosses practically demand that the actors go to absurd lengths to help substantiate the evil thoughts of the underlings, and they set to the tasks with gusto. But in reality Horrible Bosses is merely another piece of cinematic filler hastily created to make a quick dollar or two from the non-discerning. It has precious few surprises and only warrants a few chuckles, but that said it is a fair effort, but then that’s hardly going to be the comment that goes on the poster is it?
While I am here I sincerely hope that Charlie Day was acting as if he has a shrill, annoying, whiny scratchy voice. I have not watched his sit-com and don’t intend to, so this is my only direct exposure to him thus far. If I happen to come across him in another film and he clicks back into Bobcat Goldthwaite mode it might prove my last.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. Exactly what you expect when you watch the trailer. The relevance of that comment is up to you.
