An Office Drone's Wet Dream

Be honest, you wish you could do this at some point in your life. Everyone, at least once, will have a job where their boss is an absolute turd! Luckily for me, I haven't yet. The one job that I've had has had the good fortune of being governed by a really chill dude, so if I make some incredibly broad generalization in the space of this review, have mercy. For all you cubicle zombies, you factory floor husks, and mail room lackeys, if you can't actually follow through with your fantasies, you can at least live vicariously through the characters of Horrible Bosses... well, at least you could, if they weren't so absurdly incompetent. The new comedy from Seth Gordon is a delightfully dark and witty piece of craziness, that is everything The Hangover: Part II wanted to be and more. Don't miss this one.

Such a tool!

Nick, Dale, and Kurt all have pretty good lives, with nice houses, healthy(ish) love lives, and decent, well paying jobs. Sounds purty cushy, but there's one catch. They all have the worst bosses possible. Nick's boss, Dave is a sadistic psychopath. Dale's boss, Julia is a tenacious sexual predator. Kurt's boss, Bobby, is a cokehead douchebag. Because of their bosses, each of these guy's lives are miserable. So, of course, they decide to the practical thing, and kill their bosses. Naturally, they find themselves in way over their heads and they have no idea what they are doing and... yeah.

The Hangover worked because it went so over the top with it's premise. The Hangover: Part II failed because it didn't go far enough. Horrible Bosses succeeds where The Hangover succeeded and Part II failed, in that it revels in the absurdities of the world being created and doesn't apologize for it at all. The comedy comes fast and furious, vulgar as hell, and consistently rib cracking!

Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis play Nick, Dale, and Kurt respectively. Bateman does his usual thing, playing the straight man of the group, but he's usually pretty consistent at that, and it holds true here. I'm not really familiar with Sudeikis, but he does a fine job playing the foul mouthed horndog of the trio. But the real shining spot is Charlie Day, so good on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, stealing the show as Dale, the "idiot" of the group. I say "idiot" gingerly, since the character isn't stupid per se; he just does some stupid shit! Day soars with this role, bringing a ton of extra energy and craziness to the table.

The main draw for most people though is gonna be the bosses in question, and rightfully so, as they provide some of the funniest moments in the thing. Kevin Spacey as the psychotic Dave was a bit of a let down for me, but that has more to do with the fact that we've seen Spacey in this kind of role multiple times before than the quality of the performance. Jennifer Aniston finally does something worth writing home about as the sex-crazed Julia, showing a side to her that we have never had the pleasure of witnessing. It doesn't hurt that she gets about as close to naked as she's probably ever going to get. And Colin Farrel, boy, COLIN FARREL!! He is so perfect as the coked out Bobby, doing weird things with his eyes and making everyone else feel uncomfortable. He is absolutely hysterical here, easily stealing every scene he's in.

Jamie Foxx, in a small role, is a righteous hoot as the guy's murder consultant, Dean "Motherfucker" Jones, and Ioan Gruffudd is hilarious in a five minute scene as a guy who does "wet work". Good performances all around, even if Day and Farrell run away with the whole thing.

"We're woefully ignorant, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Director Seth Gordon has made a name for himself in the quirky documentary department, with such titles as The King of Kong and Freakanomics, but he shows a well developed confidence here with his first feature. He lets his actors ham it up and go nuts with the material: it's easy to tell that a lot of the dialogue was improvised, but everyone here is talented and smart enough to know when to hold back, and when to go insane, and Gordon is there, holding the reins the whole time.

When it comes to comedy, there hasn't been anything better this year, indeed, this decade. Horrible Bosses is easily the funniest movie since The Hangover that I've seen. It's the kind of thing you would have seen Chevy Chase or John Belushi in way back when, and the kind of thing you wished Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell still made. It's a comedy of the lowest class, but it strikes at something few comedies get at, and that is pure, unadulterated... uh... comedy. Horrible Bosses is funny! Really funny, and when most comedies rely on juvenile things such as poop jokes and kicks to the balls, it's nice to see a project that tackles something more mature and dangerous. This one is sure to stick out for a good while. Don't miss it. And absolutely don't take inspiration from it. I don't think these guys want your jail time on their consciences.

Trim the Fat
Horrible Bosses at MOVIECLIPS.com