"HORRIBLE BOSSES" (2011) Review

"HORRIBLE BOSSES" (2011) Review

The summer of 2011 provided moviegoers with a slew of what I would call raunchy black comedies. May saw the release of "BRIDESMAIDS" and "THE HANGOVER, PART II". "BAD TEACHER" premiered in late June. And two weeks later saw the release of the most successful of the bunch, "HORRIBLE BOSSES".

Directed by Seth Gordon, "HORRIBLE BOSSES" starred Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis. The trio co-starred as three best friends who decide to murder their respective overbearing, abusive bosses (portrayed by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell) who they believe are standing in the way of their happiness. Nick (Bateman) works at a financial firm for emotionally-abusive Dave Harken (Spacey), who dangles the possibility of a promotion to Nick, only to award it to himself. Dale (Day) endures sexual harassment from his boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Aniston), who threatens to falsely tell Dale's fiancee that he had sex with her unless he actually has sex with her. And Kurt (Sudeikis) actually enjoys his job under his boss Jack Pellitt (Donald Sutherland). But after Jack dies from a heart attack, the company is taken over by Jack's cocaine-addicted, amoral son Bobby (Farrell). One night at a bar, Kurt jokingly suggests that their lives would be happier if their bosses were no longer around. After a brief hesitation, the trio agree to the idea. In search of a hit-man, the friends travel to a bar and meet Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx), an ex-con who agrees to be their "murder consultant". Jones suggests that Dale, Kurt and Nick kill each other's bosses to hide their motive while making the deaths look like an accident.

I really did not know how I would accept "HORRIBLE BOSSES". Being a fan of the 2009 movie, "THE HANGOVER", I had found myself slightly disappointed by the recent sequel, "THE HANGOVER, PART II". And I was not really anticipating "HORRIBLE BOSSES". But since I was in the mood to watch a new movie, I went ahead and saw it anyway. And I enjoyed it . . . very much.

Screenwriters Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein did a great job in finalizing a script that took several years to finalize. Superficially, the idea of three amateurs committing murder without attracting the attention of the police seems rather ridiculous. Two of the characters, Nick and Dale, certainly viewed the idea with amusement or disbelief. But further transgressions by their respective bosses finally pushed them to the idea with hilarious results. One of the funniest aspects of "HORRIBLE BOSSES" was the problem that the three friends endured to find a professional hit man to do the job. Their search led to a hilarious meeting at a motel with a man who does "wet work" (Ioan Gruffudd) - namely pissing on his clients. The three friends' second search for a hit man leads them to a local bar, where Kurt manages to insult an African-American bartender in an effort to be "politically correct". Their trip to the bar also leads them to "Motherfucker" Jones, an ex-convict who claims to be a hit man. As it turns out, Jones went to prison for video piracy and merely conned the three friends for money. But after agreeing to be their "murder consultant", his advice for them to kill each other's boss led to some hilarious scenes, including one that featured Dale's encounter with the psychotic Dave Harken, when the latter nearly died from accidentally consuming some peanuts.

"HORRIBLE BOSSES" benefited from some funny performances by the supporting cast. Well, most of the supporting cast was funny. Only Donald Sutherland, who portrayed Kurt's amiable boss, was never given a chance to display his talent for comedy. Thankfully, the likes of Ioan Gruffudd, Julie Bowen, P.J. Byrne and Bob Newhart received the chance to tickle the audiences' funny bones. The three actors hired to portray the "horrible bosses" proved to be horrifying in a hilarious way. If I have to be honest, Dave Harken was not the first aggressive psycho he has portrayed in a comedy. His performances in "SWIMMING WITH SHARKS" and "THE MEN WHO STARED AT GOATS" come to mind. Despite his past experiences with such characters, Spacey still managed to make it all look fresh in his portrayal of Nick's manipulative and aggressively controlling boss. Jennifer Aniston's performance as Dr. Julia Harris was a revelation. Mind you, her Rachel Green character on the television series, "FRIENDS" was very complex. But I have never seen her portray such a scummy character before . . . and with such comedic skills. Colin Farrell's appearance in the movie was not as long as Spacey and Aniston's, but it was just as funny. In fact, I would cite Farrell's performance as coke-addicted and self-delusional Bobby Pellitt struck me as the funniest of the three performances. His rants against the employees he wanted fired was one of the funniest scenes in the movie. And finally, it was good to see Jamie Foxx in a comedy again. Actually, he had a supporting role in the 2010 movie, "DUE DATE" and he was funny. But his role in that movie seemed mildly amusing in compare to his hilarious portrayal of "Motherfucker" Jones, the criminal wannabe, who seemed more adept at video pirating and posing than being a hardened criminal.

But the craziness of "HORRIBLE BOSSES" could have easily fallen apart without Seth Gordon's direction and especially the performances of the three leads - Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis. As funny as the movie was, it was bizarre enough to fall apart at the slightest misstep. One, the trio made a solid and charismatic comedy team. I would go as far to add that they could easily rival the comedic team from the "HANGOVER" movies. Jason Bateman is deliciously sardonic and witty as the ass-kissing Nick Hendricks, who spent most of his professional career toadying to guys like Dave Harken. I have never been aware of Jason Sudeikis before this movie. I am aware that he had co-starred with Aniston in last year's comedy, "THE BOUNTY HUNTER", but I do not even remember him. He was certainly memorable as the trio's verbose lady's man, who first talked his two friends into committing murder. But the funniest performance came from Charlie Day, who portrayed the slightly nervous and "hopelessly romantic" Dale Arbus. It is quite apparent that most of the other characters - including his two buddies - have no real respect for him. Nick and Kurt did not take his complaints of sexual harassment by his boss seriously. One, I suspect they find it hard to believe that any female would find him attractive and two, society views the idea of a man complaining of sexual harassment by a woman seems ludicrous. But it was the hilarious and socially awkward Dale who found an effective way of dealing with the sexually aggressive Julia without any problems, whatsoever.

There have been some complaints about "HORRIBLE BOSSES". Some critics have complained that the movie was racially or gender-wise offensive. Others have complained that it was silly. I agree that "HORRIBLE BOSSES" was silly . . . but in a positive way. Besides, most comedies of this manner tend to be rather silly. But thanks to a wacky script and a first-rate cast, the silliness in "HORRIBLE BOSSES" made it the most enjoyable comedy I have seen in quite a while. I really look forward to its DVD release.