Movie Review: 'Horrible Bosses'

Lots of people hate their bosses. I'm sure many even fantasize about how much better their lives would be if their bosses were out of the picture. But normal people just leave it at that...right? Enter Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis). They plan to take it a step further: they decide they're actually going to kill each others bosses. And as the viewer, you'll be rooting for them from beginning to end. It's not just that the three leads are so likable (they are), but their respective bosses are so incredibly, well, horrible that it doesn't take too much to persuade us that the world would be a much better, brighter, more employee-friendly place without them in it.

Consistently amusing, the film owes much of its success to lively character interaction; our main trio, aka the most harmless men in the world, are undeniably funny on their own --- but put them together, and jokes that would have gotten little more than smile garner full on laughs. The real standout of the film is Day. Whether he's playing hitman with his two BFF's, being sexually harassed by his boss, or just rocking out to Fergie on the radio by himself, he's never anything short of hysterical. There's something about that incredibly high-pitched voice of his that makes every single word he says sound like comedic music to the ears -- and things only get better when he's on screen with his main target: his boss, Julia (Jennifer Aniston).


Aniston throws her deeply-rooted typecast to the other end of the Earth with her role as Dale's nymphomaniac, black-mailing, kinky-to-the-max boss. They may say that blondes have more fun, but Aniston, sporting her new dark locks, looks like she's having the most fun of her career since Friends ended. Who knew such wrongfully-funny vulgarity could come out of her mouth?

Rounding out the all-star cast are Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, and Jamie Foxx, each further spicing up the not-too-original story with pizazz only they could bring to the table. The end feels a little rushed, like a quick conclusion to a movie that ran out of jokes to tell, but even so, I wasn't much fazed; the end, like much of the movie, made me feel like I was on the "in" with these characters, a part of a running, inside joke that helps brings a satisfying close to this fun summer comedy.

Rating: B+