Horrible Bosses Review

This week sees the release of Horrible Bosses, a comedy starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis as three down-trodden employees who hatch a plan to kill their bosses, played by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell. The premise is original and the actors are big names – so why doesn’t it quite work?

The concept, in its most basic form, is ingenious, though it does owe a debt to Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train. Three friends decide to kill their bosses. That’s a good start. There’s potential for a few laughs, some fun to be had, the bosses die and everyone goes home happy. It’s when the details are added that things get bogged down. Characters like Jamie Foxx’s murder consultant Motherfucker Jones (an unnecessary and unfunny joke in itself) are completely expendable – as a murder consultant who doesn’t tell the three leads anything they couldn’t have worked out for themselves, what’s the point in him being there? Why bother having Donald Sutherland pop in for five minutes and then killing him off so Colin Farrell can take over the company? And would it have killed the writers to come up with a clever ending to go with their clever idea?

Horrible Bosses is supported mainly by its characters. It’s refreshing to see Spacey playing a real villain again, something we haven’t seen since his portrayal of Lex Luthor in 2006’s Superman Returns. His transition from slimy to downright evil ensures that he stands out as the most horrible boss, but Aniston also deserves a mention for leaving her comfort zone of inoffensive-but-generally-awful rom-coms to play filthy-mouthed nymphomaniac dentist Julia Harris. If there was ever an actress who needed to play a different role, it’s Aniston, and this could be a turning-point for her career. Farrell as the third boss, Bobby Pellit, is a safe pair of hands, despite being out-acted throughout the film by his outrageously awful comb-over.

Charlie Day may prove to be the breakout star of this film, having previously been known for sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. His charisma and comic timing, combining the squeaky panic of Steve Carell with the manic idiocy of Zach Galifianakis, ensures that he steals every scene he features in, though at times he is given a run for his money by Sudeikis.

Unfortunately, the film suffers overall from the relative inexperience of its writers and director. The script is funny and has a couple of moments you don’t see coming, but the convenient ending lets it down badly, highlighting the fact that the three writers come from a television background. The jokes also run the risk of going too far on occasion, such as the scene where the three leads continuously mispronounce the name of the foreign man acting as their in-car guide, but are just kept inside the lines of comedy instead of straying into racism. Seth Gordon’s direction lacks flair (TWO montages?! No film needs two montages!) and fails to make the most of its opportunities.

Despite the strength of its acting and its original idea, Horrible Bosses is let down by its ending and its direction. What we are left with is a forgettable comedy that nevertheless hits more than it misses. 

3/5