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Saturday, August 6, 2011

Horrible Bosses [ Movie Review ] ★★1/2

The Plot

For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston) into dust.
Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers…permanently. 

There’s only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them. 

(Plot Outline from Horrible Bosses Facebook Info)

The Perspective 

The irony of Horrible Bosses was that there weren't enough Horrible Bosses. Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell were the better parts of the show and yet there wasn't enough of them nor were they effective in their limited screen time.  

Kevin Spacey who is replaying the role of a nasty boss wasn't in his A game here. He is still a psycho mean spirited boss but this rendition here really pales in comparison to his performance in Swimming with Sharks. Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell were commendable for taking on roles that were a departure of the types that we were used to see them in. But it wasn't really that good either and they got way too little screen time to expand on their roles.

It's a shame because the three bosses could have been funny as hell but were left under utilized and didn't have the time to shine.

Instead we get a movie that focus on three subordinates who were trying to kill their boss for a better life. Their madcap adventure felt like a desperate attempt to copy the success of The Hangover movie (the original one). There's the sensible one, the sex manic and the stupid one. It felt rather generic and predictable throughout.

Jason Bateman felt like he had not stepped out of his character from Arrested Development. Jason Sudeikis as the horny guy who gets laid easily felt like a desperate attempt to incite laughter. But they were bearable compared to Charlie Day.

Charlie Day was simply annoying as the stupid one to turn down the sex offer by his boss. I couldn't relate to his character and it felt like he is going against the law of nature on this one. It certainly made the matter worse when his voice was so whiny and it gets tiresome to watch him play dumb.

Well but humour is subjective. What might not be funny for me, might make people laugh out loud. There are some folks in my theater that were consistently laughing hysterically at bits that I thought wasn't that funny at all. In fact I found the humour rather formulaic, kinda forced and too juvenile to my liking. Horrible Bosses did cause me to chuckle once or twice (at most) but hey like I said, humour is  subjective so watch it at your own discretion.

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