Hot on the heals of gross-out comedy Bridesmaids (2011) comes Seth Gordon’s Horrible Bosses (2011). Friends Nick, Dale and Kurt share a common problem: they all hate their bosses. Nick (Jason Bateman) works for tyrannical Mr Harken (Kevin Spacey), who shamelessly bullies and torments him. Dale (Charlie Day) is a dental nurse and his boss Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) spends her time at work hitting on him with heavy sexual advances.
Last but not least, Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) has to deal with his rude, inconsiderate and unqualified boss Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell) who stepped in after his father’s death only to squeeze as much money as he can out of the company.
While venting out their frustration over a beer, the trio decide there’s only a way they can escape the dreadful situations they’re in: they have to kill their bosses. Which is obviously not easy to do…
Horrible Bosses follows a pretty simple and quite straightforward storyline, but turns it into an explosive mix of funny situations, misunderstandings and their hilarious consequences. Bateman, Day and Sudeikis play three completely ordinary guys caught up in a flood of tragicomic circumstances – but while this may sound like your usual, seen-before comedy, they manage to inject so much personality and spark into their characters that you’ll find their misadventures to be relatable yet totally unexpected.
Opposite the three unlikely heroes we find the ‘horrible bosses’, which are likewise brilliantly played by an almost unrecognisable Colin Farrell, a nympho Jennifer Aniston and a psychotic Kevin Spacey, who delivers a fine performance as the ultimate evil bully.
The movie also features the (unexpected( comedic abilities of Jame Foxx, who also steps out of his comfort zone by playing ‘Motherfucker’ Jones, the ‘black guy’ who throws himself in the equation with hilarious outcomes – amidst word plays and funny takes on racial clichés.
With a running time of just 98 minutes, Horrible Bosses is short, well-paced and to the point, with a clear idea of what it wants to achieve. Thanks to an array of well-constructed jokes and comical situations which entertain without overdoing it, it does just that.
