Review: Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses

7/25/11

Carmike Cinema 10-Private Screening

Large Mr. Pibb

Plenty of A/C

I’m a big fan of high-brow comedy and not a big fan of gross-out, raunch-fest comedy.  Unfortunately that line gets blurred all too often these days and movies that should be one or the other end up being both.  Its genius marketing if you think about it, ropes in both audiences.  So, when a movie can toe the line and manage to tastefully pull off both genres, it becomes an instant winner.  The Hangover did it, The Hangover 2 didn’t.  Anchorman did it, Jackass didn’t.  You get the point. 

For those of us who have had a Horrible Boss in the past, this movie hit’s WAY too close to home.  Jason Bateman, Entertainment Weekly’s “Man of Summer” (who I think is one of the funniest people on the planet), Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day play three guys who all hate their boss and decide it’s time to take action.  You may think the idea of killing the three superiors may seem a little aggressive until you see how they treat these guys.  Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Anniston play the three bosses respectively.  Bateman is in a corporate office environment, Sudeikis is in a small business and Day works for a dentist, so we cover nearly any workplace conflict; which by the way are intimidation, insanity and sexual harassment.

All six of the main characters turn in great performances but in my opinion Anniston and Bateman steal the show.  Anniston plays a nymphomaniac who tries and tries again to get engaged Day to stray from his to be marital commitment.  For those of us who are Rachel from Friends fans to start with, you’ll never see her the same again.  And Bateman essentially plays me about 15 years ago so I’m watching the movie thinking “Damn, I should have thought of that!!”  You can’t help but cringe watching his boss continually hammer him.

There are a few too many “F” words for some people and some obviously mature themes so the rating is a hard “R” but as long as you know that going in I think you’ll see that all of it fits.  This is the funniest movie of 2011 so far.  And I say that knowing that there have been a few record-breaking comedies released this year.  Like The Hangover and Anchorman both, I have a feeling this one will get better and better with time. 

My review: 

3/4, B+, See it in the theater