Horrible Bosses does an excellent job in setting itself up quickly. The players are introduced and the titular bosses are indeed “horrible”. You can understand why any employee would have no problem seeing them meet an untimely end. However, once the cards are dealt this film doesn’t have the bite needed to turn this movie into anything more than a foul-mouthed 93 minutes that’s not exactly a waste of time, but I wouldn’t consider it time well spent.
In the opening ten minutes or so, each of the film’s lead characters introduces us to their boss, establishing just what exactly makes them so horrible. Nick (Jason Bateman) is in line for a promotion only to find out his boss (Kevin Spacey) has sabotaged his opportunity. Nick dubs him a “Total F–king Asshole” as big bold letters blot the screen to match his description. The same thing happens when Kurt’s (Jason Sudeikis) boss (played for a few seconds by Donald Sutherland) dies of a heart attack and his son (Colin Farrell) takes over. Kurt describes him as his father’s “Dipshit Cokehead Son.” An apt name to be certain.
Of the three lead characters, the more interesting of the bunch is probably Dale (played by “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Charlie Day) who is working as a dental assistant and also happens to be a registered sex offender for reasons I won’t spoil here. Dale’s boss (Jennifer Aniston) is something of a nymphomaniac, determined to have sex with him despite the fact he’s already engaged. Dale considers her to be an “Evil Crazy Bitch.”
Over drinks one night, this trio theorize on the possibility of killing their bosses in an effort to secure their sanity and overall happiness. As the plan comes together, thanks to some questionable advice from a cocktail sipping ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the story is set to take off. But it doesn’t… at least not entirely.
Once Nick, Kurt and Dale begin carrying out their murderous plot the film tends to trip and stumble over itself just as much as the three leads when it comes to executing their plan. There are a few funny moments such as a hidden cat jump scare, a dropped box of cocaine and a stakeout sing-a-long, but overall the laughs aren’t very consistent and the film is never as dark as it really should be.
These bosses are legitimately mean people. You want to see them go down for the personal and emotional stress they’ve caused our protagonists. I can’t say we’ve all been in a situation where we want to see someone dead, but we can all say we’ve been in a situation where you think to yourself, “God, I wish I could do something without there being any consequences!” Horrible Bosses could have been that moment of escapism. Delving into the dark corners of our minds where we finally watch someone exact retribution on those that have done them wrong. If movies are meant for moments of escapism, there aren’t many scenarios better than revenge.
Instead, like 99.99% of all films today, a hero and villain line must be drawn, even if your heroes are skirting the moral line themselves. This results in a film where we get to see Spacey, Farrell and Aniston chew a bit of scenery for the first few minutes, before it turns into more of a slapstick feature than the dark comedy it originally set out to be.
I traditionally enjoy watching Bateman, Sudeikis and Day in most anything. I was among the few that loved both Sudeikis and Day in Going the Distance and Bateman is always good for a laugh. However, here, they aren’t bringing all that much new to the table and Day particularly gets a bit shrill, many times too often.
I do have to add, however, I did enjoy Jamie Foxx as M.F. Jones. A moment in the film where he’s sipping on a drink and looking from left to right while being chastised for the advice he’s given was probably the funniest moment for me. The look on his face sold it. Oh, and be on the lookout for the Old Spice guy, Isaiah Mustafa, as a cop near the end of the film. Not because it’s a good scene, but because it will give you a moment to elbow your friend and say, “Hey, that’s the Old Spice guy.” To which they’ll likely reply, “Neat.” It will be a nice moment.
I don’t think anyone will walk out of Horrible Bosses supremely upset, but mildly disappointed is probably more like it. It is a more cohesive film than director Seth Gordon’s Four Christmases, but it just couldn’t commit itself to go as dark as it needed to. It’s all too nice and tidy whereas it needed to get down and dirty, giving the audience a moment to realize what it must feel like to finally say, and do what we want no matter the consequences. In the opening moments we get a glimpse of this in a daydream scenario. Nick does something he’s obviously wanted to do for a long time. His co-workers cheer him on. That‘s the movie I wanted to see, but I didn’t get it.
