4/5
Horrible Bosses is a film about those employees who fantasize killing their bosses. The employees in this film, however, act upon these fantasies as they comically assemble a plan to murder each other's bosses. With a good cast, cheerful originality and situation slapstick all combined, Horrible Bosses is one of the best R-rated comedies to hit the silver screen in years.
The first 'horrible boss' is Dave Harkin (Kevin Spacey). An actor capable of portraying sadistic roles with joy and without overacting, Spacey fits into the shoes of Harkin perfectly as he threatens his middle manager Nick (Jason Bateman) and denies him of promotion or even of freedom. Harkin is the kind of boss who's not afraid of getting his hands dirty to keep his employees in line, as well as maintaining a structured yet closed off personal life.
Next we meet Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), a dentist/sex-maniac who has her dental assistant Dale (Charlie Day) in her sights. Despite the fact that he's engaged, Julia is determined to sleep with him, creating many not only awkward but legally-questionable moments of sexual harassment in her office space. Audiences should be happy to see Aniston out of her recent trend of roles, taking on a dirty role, and nailing it with great comedic timing and a compelling mix of sexy and crazy.
Last but not least is Bobby Pellitt, played here by a hardly recognizable Colin Farrell. A cokehead-slacker who inherits a chemical business from his father, who was loved as a manager, Bobby's only interest in the firm is squeezing out extra money to finance his life of drug-addled sleeping around. His father's number two man Kurt (Jason Sudeikas) watches helplessly as Bobby works to destroy the company his father set up.
Frustrated at their bosses, but realizing that their bosses also have enough power to stop them from leaving their jobs and finding new ones, the three helpless employees decide that their lives would be easier without their bosses in them. The trio hire a murder-consultant (Jamie Foxx) to assist them, and they go about trying to kill their bosses. Obviously, all goes wrong. However, plans have almost never fallen apart with so many laughs. The movie is not as predictable as it sounds, and the ride is vulgar, sexual and above all hilarious.
The lead trio of actors have good chemistry and they play the roles well, both as helpless employees and as clueless murderers. What was better still was the casting of the bosses. Colin Farrell is great, Kevin Spacey is great, but Jennifer Aniston is spectacular, as she hasn’t ever had a role quite like this- and she nails it. It adds more range to her career and shows audiences that she can be a funny leading lady without a sappy romantic story. Overall, Horrible Bosses is a crude but awesome dark comedy, with some of the best laughs in a long time.
Horrible Bosses is a film about those employees who fantasize killing their bosses. The employees in this film, however, act upon these fantasies as they comically assemble a plan to murder each other's bosses. With a good cast, cheerful originality and situation slapstick all combined, Horrible Bosses is one of the best R-rated comedies to hit the silver screen in years.
The first 'horrible boss' is Dave Harkin (Kevin Spacey). An actor capable of portraying sadistic roles with joy and without overacting, Spacey fits into the shoes of Harkin perfectly as he threatens his middle manager Nick (Jason Bateman) and denies him of promotion or even of freedom. Harkin is the kind of boss who's not afraid of getting his hands dirty to keep his employees in line, as well as maintaining a structured yet closed off personal life.
Next we meet Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), a dentist/sex-maniac who has her dental assistant Dale (Charlie Day) in her sights. Despite the fact that he's engaged, Julia is determined to sleep with him, creating many not only awkward but legally-questionable moments of sexual harassment in her office space. Audiences should be happy to see Aniston out of her recent trend of roles, taking on a dirty role, and nailing it with great comedic timing and a compelling mix of sexy and crazy.
Last but not least is Bobby Pellitt, played here by a hardly recognizable Colin Farrell. A cokehead-slacker who inherits a chemical business from his father, who was loved as a manager, Bobby's only interest in the firm is squeezing out extra money to finance his life of drug-addled sleeping around. His father's number two man Kurt (Jason Sudeikas) watches helplessly as Bobby works to destroy the company his father set up.
Frustrated at their bosses, but realizing that their bosses also have enough power to stop them from leaving their jobs and finding new ones, the three helpless employees decide that their lives would be easier without their bosses in them. The trio hire a murder-consultant (Jamie Foxx) to assist them, and they go about trying to kill their bosses. Obviously, all goes wrong. However, plans have almost never fallen apart with so many laughs. The movie is not as predictable as it sounds, and the ride is vulgar, sexual and above all hilarious.
The lead trio of actors have good chemistry and they play the roles well, both as helpless employees and as clueless murderers. What was better still was the casting of the bosses. Colin Farrell is great, Kevin Spacey is great, but Jennifer Aniston is spectacular, as she hasn’t ever had a role quite like this- and she nails it. It adds more range to her career and shows audiences that she can be a funny leading lady without a sappy romantic story. Overall, Horrible Bosses is a crude but awesome dark comedy, with some of the best laughs in a long time.