Now Playing: Horrible Bosses (2011)

Today I went out to see Horrible Bosses with my friends here in B.C. They were really looking forward to it, and they had high expectations. I was curious about seeing it, but mainly because I thought Jennifer Aniston is super hot and she's basically a sex-fiend in it. From the trailers I didn't think Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrell did much, and of the 3 main characters I only recognized Jason Bateman. These things added together meant I wasn't really sure what I should be expecting, but I was hoping it would be funny, with plenty of Aniston being sexy. Hit the jump to see if I got my wish.


The basic premise of the movie is that these 3 friends all have the worst bosses in the world. One night they drunkenly joke about how much better their lives would be if their bosses were all dead. It doesn't take long before they decide to actually go through with the most evil of deeds and set out to commit 3 murders. Saying it like that, it doesn't really sound all that comical, but strangely enough the whole situation comes off as lighthearted and we cheer on our protagonists, even though they have every intention to become murderers.

The thing that stood out to me the most about this movie was the cast, cause it was pretty big and there were a lot of notable people. It kinda seems like they spent all of their budget getting the cast, especially the bosses, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Colin Farrell. Personally, I'd say they stole the movie from the 3 protagonists Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis.

I found Bateman to be alright, he was certainly his usual self that we see in everything. But then again, I loved Arrested Development and I do enjoy him acting that way. I haven't seen him in much since that show went of the air though, so maybe I'm just not tired of it yet.

Jason Bateman & Charlie Day have a run in with Kevin Spacey

Charlie Day seems to have a lot of fans from his TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but I've never understood what the big deal with that show was. He was pretty frantic in this movie and kinda all over the place. Also, I didn't find it believable in the least that he was the target of Aniston's affections.

Lastly, Jason Sudeikis seemed kinda pointless to me and he didn't bring anything to the movie. Also, for some odd reason, he was supposed to be this unstoppable ladies man who got every woman he set his eyes on. I completely didn't find this believable either, and just wished they had picked another actor better suited for the role.

On the side of the bosses, we first meet Kevin Spacey's completely evil Dave Harken. He's the kind of boss who will fire you if you don't stay late when he randomly tells you to, and gets way on your case if you're only 2 minutes late. He had a ton of scenes and was really the focus of the film. He wasn't really funny, so much as completely and totally evil. He had to be the worst of the bosses.

Jennifer Aniston goes way further in this movie than I think she ever has before

Jennifer Aniston is the sultry and completely inappropriate Dr. Julia Harris. All I have to say about her is this: Oh. My. God. I could have drooled all over myself and I would have been totally fine with it. The main problem with her coming on to the guy, is that he's about to be married and she's trying to blackmail him into having an affair. In addition to being super hot, I thought her scenes were also pretty funny, and I enjoyed almost all them.

The last boss is Colin Farrell's Bobby Pellitt who was this totally insane and hilarious coke head. He was easily the funniest of the bosses, but sadly he's hardly in the film at all, only having 1 or 2 scenes. I think it was a real shame that he didn't have more screen time, and in the outtakes it was clear that he had more scenes that they cut from the movie, which just adds insult to injury.

Probably the most under used, and best of the bosses, Colin Farrell needed more screen time

In addition to all these characters and actors, we also get some short scenes with Donald Sutherland, Jamie Foxx (who I thought was pretty fun) and I even spotted the Old Spice guy, Isaiah Mustafa in a very brief side role as a cop. I really wish the movie had more of all of these actors, although I think we actually already get more Jamie Foxx than we do of Colin Farrell, who I again stress that I think really should have had a ton more time to bring his wacky character to life.

Well, this article has gone on long enough already, and I've only talked about the actors, but I felt it was necessary because the heart of a comedy always comes from the actors. Quickly I'll just mention that the movie felt really small, because each location really only had 1 or 2 rooms to each. The whole movie really just felt like a series of sets, instead of a full world which I was getting to look in on. Also, while there were a few good laughs to have, it definitely wasn't the funniest movie I've ever seen, or even seen recently, and it definitely could have been better. My friends also seemed to feel that it was not nearly as funny as they had been hoping.

I think Horrible Bosses is worth seeing, but if you can wait until it's out on DVD or Netflix, you'd still enjoy it just fine. I don't think it's necessary to see it in the theater, but I'm kinda late to see this one anyways, so probably anyone who was interested in it has already seen it by now. If so, I hope you liked it, I thought it was a decently good comedy in the end.