Horrible Bosses

Going to the movies by yourself is a little awkward but what is even worse is when you are planning on meeting people at the theater. If the people don't show up early, then when they show up you have to stand up and wave your arms around to get their attention while the lights are off. What is even worse is when they still don't see you and half the theater looks at you like you walked out of the looney bin. That's exactly what happened to me before Horrible Bosses started and even though it was a rough start I was excited to see this movie. It had a great cast including some of my favorite actors like Kevin Spacey, Jason Bateman, and Charlie Day. So hopefully this movie would meet my expectations and give me a good laugh like Bridesmaids had done earlier last month.

Horrible Bosses is about 3 friends with some awful, painful bosses that ruin their lives. Nick (Bateman) has a boss (Spacey) who tortures and abuses him and even tricks him into working harder for a fake promotion. Dale (Day) has a boss (Aniston) who constantly is sexually harassing him even though Dale is engaged. Kurt (Sudeikis) has a boss who abuses the company's money and fires people who "freak him out". The men decide that they cannot take it anymore and plan to kill their bosses. The only problem is that this plan is harder than it seems and gang must find a way to get rid of their terrible bosses all while trying to dodge the cops and stay alive.

Plot: I didn't really have any big problems with the story here but at the same time there wasn't anything that I really enjoyed. That said this is still a solid story that is better than 75% of the comedies that come out every year. The premise falls into the dreams that every person who has had a crappy job dreams about, killing their boss. What does work here is the extreme natures of the characters' bosses. Plus some of the ridiculous situations the characters go through are funny and enjoyable. Though this movie is not without its problems. *Spoiler Alert* There is a part where one boss kills another and while it makes sense I felt that it wasn't needed and that it rushed the rest of the film. Plus the ending for me seemed a little too ridiculous and unnecessary.  Still the movie had a clever modern twist on the Strangers On A Train premise that did have its hilarious moments making it worth the ticket price. Like I always say about comedies, it all comes down to whether it is funny or not and in the end this movie turned out to be darn funny. While it wasn't the strongest comedy that I had seen, it still is funny and what you want in the theater around this time in the summer. 3/5

Cast: First I will analyze the bosses themselves and then the main characters. Colin Farrell stands out as my personal favorite because I loved seeing the actor go way out of his range and really capture his character's wacky and crazy nature. Aniston was my least favorite because she got more annoying as the film went on and didn't really make any good laughs in the second half of the film. Spacey, I felt, was good but there was so much potential wasted. They should have watched Swimming With Sharks to get the idea of what Spacey could really do as a "horrible" boss. As for our main characters, Day and Sudeikis shine as the best and Bateman while having a presence does not pull off the same feel that you would expect from the Arrested Development star. Charlie Day has the best moments in the film and is the reason why you should see this movie. You will laugh at him whether he is getting high off coke or failing at talking dirty while in a car accident. Some of the best characters in this film though were the small cameos that were a lot of fun if you can catch them. Donald Sutherland shows up as a boss, Ron White shows up as a cop, and Wendell Pierce from The Wire shows up as White's partner! The cast is definitely the best part of the film and the reason that this movie is watchable. 4/5

Script: For as many funny moments there were, I was disappointed to see so many scenes and jokes that plainly failed. One scene that comes to mind is Spacey laughing at Bateman for calling his grandma "Gam-gam". Obviously they put way too much effort into this joke and it didn't get a laugh from anyone. The main reason for that is the trailer which can be a movie's worst enemy. The trailer for this film gives too many of its big jokes and almost ruins the film. Still, the jokes are strong enough to carry the film and there are enough jokes they didn't show to get the shock and laugh effect. Still, with failing jokes throughout the film and a trailer that gives away too much, the script was hurt and wasn't able to pull as many laughs that it should have. 2.5/5

Direction/Visuals: Nothing here stands out and it is your typical comedy direction. Seth Gordon does nothing to ruin the flick which is good but I think this was a movie where we didn't want the director to try to stand out. In fact I commend him for just letting the camera catch the great cast do their thing. So don't expect anything from the visual department with this flick but then again were you expecting anything? 3/5

Overall: Worth seeing for sure but at the same time this movie still has it problems. Luckily the great cast and hilarious moments are able to carry the film and make it enjoyable for the audience. I would suggest seeing it with some friends and enjoy a nice break during the summer season.

3/5