Review: Horrible Bosses
Yeah, we know, we’ve been lazy lately at Ross v Ross Towers, but here’s the first of a few DVD review we have done. Ross McG finds out if Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell are as horrible bosses as Ross McD…
Horrible Bosses (three stars)
In the cinematic pantheon of terrible employers, there are a few unforgettable slave-drivers who leap right out of the boardroom and stay in the sub-conscious. Poor Keanu Reeves had to work for Satan in The Devil’s Advocate, though even Beelzebub lets you have Saturday off, unlike say, Bill Lumbergh in Office Space. That movie is a bit of a touchstone for Horrible Bosses, and not just because they both star Jennifer Aniston. Here, three working stooges (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) decide they have had enough of their torturing superiors. Enter Kevin Spacey’s ball-breaking financial executive, Colin Farrell’s foul-mouthed, drugged-up daddy’s boy and Aniston’s coitus-crazed dentist. Before you can say ‘Strangers On A Train’ (or ‘Throw Momma From The Train’, as the film’s best gag illustrates), our three put-upon heroes hatch a plot to off each other’s bosses, with the help – or hindrance – of self-styled ‘murder consultant’ Jamie Foxx. There isn’t much to Horrible Bosses but what it lacks in cohesion it invariably makes up for with a killer giggle – highlights include a scarily accurate re-enactment of the key scene from pretty much every episode of Law & Order. Director Seth Gordon – who was behind The King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, one of the best documentaries ever made – doesn’t exactly strain himself but the three leads are likeable even if their pratfalls are slightly Hangover-lite. The problem with Horrible Bosses is its misleading title – there just isn’t enough of Spacey (who played much meaner bosses in Swimming With Sharks and Glengarry Glen Ross), Farrell and Aniston, although in the latter’s case that’s probably for the best: sexual assault in the workplace is never funny.
Verdict:
Crude, rude and often a bit lewd for its own good, these Horrible Bosses just about earn a shot at promotion thanks to some big laughs.
This review first appeared in the Metro newspaper
Ross v Ross 
January 5, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Will probably get around to seeing this eventually. Just caught Jason Bateman in The Change-Up and Paul recently. Paul’s the better film but Bateman is completely wasted, while he has plenty more to do in The Change-Up but the film is terrible!