Horrible Bosses - Movie Review

In case you were wondering, "Horrible Bosses" is not much like "9 to 5," the 80s comedy movie starring Dolly Parton as one of three women with a horrible boss who decide to do something about it, although superficially it might seem so, since it is a comedy movie starring SNL's Jason Sudeikis as one of three men with a horrible boss who decide to do something about it. The main difference is that that earlier classic comedy is a slapstick farce about the three ladies' plan to sabotage their boss and the new movie is a slapstick farce about... OK, I take it back, they're the exact same movie, right down to the rat poison! Actually, Bosses, which also at times resembles the old Hitchcock thriller "Strangers on a Train," (about 2 men who meet for the first time on a train and end up plotting to murder each others' wives) and "The Hangover" (3 guys have adventures), is a bit darker and more screwball in a "Jackass" sort of way, as Sudeikis and costars Jason Bateman and Charlie Day plot to murder their awful bosses, played by Kevin Spacey (abusive boss), Colin Farrell (coke-snorting boss) and Jennifer Aniston (sexual harassment boss).

The movie is fun in a stupid sort of a way, just as you expect. The three leads have good funny man-chemistry together, and most of the humor of the movie happens as they stumble in and out of their bosses' houses looking for clues about their lives which may help them figure out how to kill or otherwise ruin them. Likewise, the three bad bosses are good, meaning they are absolutely evil, so you love to hate them (although men will have a hard time disliking Jennifer Aniston talking dirty, which trust me, she does very well). Colin Farrell shows he can do comedy with a bald-with-combover wig which makes him look ridiculous, which he seems to somehow find freeing because he takes to his "70s-douchebag" coke-snorting like, well, a 70s douchebag coke snorter. And of course all Kevin Spacey has to do to come across evil is be - Kevin Spacey.

The movie goes in unexpected directions sometimes, (watch for Kevin Spacey with a gun), a good thing, since in the beginning you're going to think you know exactly how things will turn out. Oh, and listen for the guy who played Babu Bhatt on "Seinfeld" as the voice of an "Onstar"-type car guidance system which features prominently towards the end.

Posted by: GMan