Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses Review

Directed By: Seth Gordon

Written By: John Francis, Jonathan Goldstein, & Michael Markowitz

Genre: Comedy

Running Time: 100 minutes

Released: July 8th, 2011

8.9/10 Dropps

During the summer film season it’s rare to come across a movie that doesn’t feature more explosions than actual character progression or boast its $100 million dollar budget. That being said, Horrible Bosses thrives in its simplicity. The plot is simple enough – three employees are tired of being treated poorly and scheme to kill their bosses. The impact of the film doesn’t come from highly touted special effects but from a fantastic ensemble cast, in which everyone delivers great performances.

Two trios of comedy gold strengthens and entertain throughout the entire movie, by creating de facto comedy death-matches between the high-and-mighty employers and the disgruntled employees. The first battle consists of Dave Harken, a sadist with a huge ego (played by Kevin Spacey, who is definitely in his comfort zone) who promoted himself over his middle manager Nick (Played by Jason Bateman, once again acting as the voice of reason reminiscent of the Arrested Development days). The second boss is Dr. Julia Harris (played by Jennifer Aniston in her funniest role yet), a sex crazed dentist with her eyes set on the recently engaged Dale (played to perfection by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day). Lastly, Bobby Pellitt (played by an almost unrecognizable Colin Farrell) who took over a family company and is quickly running it to the ground, while the former boss’s protege, Kurt (played by SNL’s Jason Sudeikis) can only look on.

Rounding out the cast is Jamie Foxx’s Dean “Motherfucker” Jones, a hired hit-man who counsels the three nervous employees through the attempted killings of the bosses. The movie utilizes aspects of situational slapstick comedy as well as black comedy to carefully make the notions of homicide into a hilarious course of events and not a serious one.  Horrible Bosses also stops short of making too big a statement about the job market that is currently not making millions of Americans laugh; they do enough to make comparisons but don’t make it any central narrative. All in all, Horrible Bosses might very well be one of the best movies to come out this summer so far.

-Mat Karako