Now Playing: ‘Horrible Bosses’ – Another R-Rated Win for Summer

Anyone who has ever had a horrible boss knows the true ruin-your-life power that one can wield. I’ve had two that caused me to quit – once without notice in the middle of a shift. Although I’ve never had a boss so bad that I fantasized about his/her untimely demise, it’s easy to understand why our trio of mistreated central characters in ‘Horrible Bosses’ would want to kill theirs.

Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day (from ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘) play best friends who each work under horrible bosses. Bateman’s boss (Kevin Spacey) is a genuine prick who takes advantage of anyyone trying to climb the corporate ladder by dangling a carrot of promotion over their heads, manipulating them into working extra hard and extra long, but never rewarding them for their effort.

Day’s boss (Jennifer Aniston) is a horny dentist who constantly tries to force him to have sex with her. The running joke here is that if his hot boss’ only downside is wanting him to sleep with her, then he’s really got nothing to complain about. But as a faithful, honest guy who wants to be the perfect husband for his fiancée, his deepest morals are being tested.

Sudeikis’ boss (Colin Farrell) is a cokehead who recently took over his dead father’s chemical business. Sudeikis was the hard-working son that Farrell’s dead father never had, so jealousy causes a major rift between the two.

Our central characters come to the realization that they have no possible career progression, and will have to kill their bosses in order to become the men they want to be. Yet with no experience whatsoever in the area of contract killing, the three have no idea where to start.

Although the general pre-release vibe for ‘Horrible Bosses’ seems to have set some low expectations, pure comedy ensues. The banter between Bateman, Day and Sudeikis is hilarious. But the real show-stealers are Spacey, Aniston and Farrell. The only way in which ‘Horrible Bosses’ could have been improved would be featuring more of the horrible bosses.

The last three R-rated comedies released this summer (‘Bridesmaids,’ ‘The Hangover Part II’ and ‘Bad Teacher‘) were all commercial successes. With such strong comedic performances and a great script, ‘Horrible Bosses’ should be just as successful as, if not more than, the others.

Rating: ★★★★☆

1 comment

  1. Col.Mayhem

    Yep, loved it. My face hurt afterwards from laughing so much. It more than made up for the steaming piles Hangover II and Hall Pass were.

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