One of the side characters we meet in Horrible Bosses used to be a hotshot on Wall Street, but since the
financial collapse he has found himself unemployed, unable to find even a
menial service job, and doling out hand jobs in a bar and grill bathroom for
forty bucks a pop. While his situation is exaggerated for comedic effect, it’s
still one that most of us can relate to. The shrinking job market and stagnant
economy has made unemployment a very scary proposition to face. No doubt, there
are lots of people out there right now suffering through miserable jobs, paralyzed
with fear when the notion of quitting crosses their minds. And maybe the reason
their jobs are so unbearable is their insufferably evil superiors. Most everyone
can relate to the experience of having a horrible boss. In a climate of fear
and desperation, where countless people all over the world find themselves
trapped under their bosses’ control, a movie about three guys pushed to the
drastic decision of killing their bosses could have real wide-reaching,
therapeutic appeal. It could become a watershed moment for this decade’s pop
culture. Unfortunately, while there are some laughs to be had here, Horrible Bosses doesn’t come close to
living up to that potential
Our three main characters are Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt
(Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day). Nick works at some sort of tech firm
and has an evil boss (Kevin Spacey) who pushes him way too hard and keeps him
begging and supplicating with the promises of promotions that will never
materialize. Kurt works at a chemical company that has been inherited by a coke
snorting, politically incorrect, ne’er do well (Colin Farrell) who plans on
running the company into the ground while milking as much money out of it as he
can. Dale is a dental assistant who works for a psychotically hypersexual
dentist (Jennifer Aniston) who doesn’t just stop at sexually harassing her
help; she’s also prone to getting a little rapey, both with them and the
patients. After running into that aforementioned old friend who lost his job
and is now a low level male prostitute, our heroes come to the conclusion that
they can’t simply quit their jobs and start over; the only chance they have of
ending their woes is if they find ways to kill each other’s bosses.
The three leads are solid enough in their roles, and they
have an easy chemistry, but there is no real breakout performance here. The
problem stems from the nature of the characters and the way they are written.
Three working class schlubs getting pushed to the point of being willing to
commit multiple murders is an out there concept that could be fertile grounds
for out there comedy, but the three protagonists we get are too normal and well
adjusted to really go to those places. There needed to be an eccentric to push
the action forward, there needed to be an uptight guy to try and pull it back.
The push and pull of the characters interacting with each other is where the
comedy would have come from. Instead we get three regular dudes swept up into a
situation that they will never fully commit to, and which can consequently
never fully be explored. Writing this film’s core trio with a more standard
straight man/comic foil structure could have helped things out immensely. Due
to a bout with some accidental cocaine use, Charlie Day’s Dale gets to be a bit
manic, and consequently he’s the funniest lead in the film, but he should have
been allowed to go further. Sudeikis’ Kurt isn’t very well defined at all. He’s
kind of a womanizer, but that only gets hinted at a couple times. If he had
been presented as having a real sleazy streak, then there could have been more
potential for comedy, and Jason Bateman would have been able to be the put upon
straight man rather than just another bland character getting lost in a sea of
normal dudes like he is here.
The three bosses go in a different direction than the
relatively milquetoast leads, and they each play outlandish villains with varying
results. Spacey plays things very cold. His Mr. Harken is a calculated,
remorseless psychopath. Spacey goes dark places with conviction and he gets you
to really hate his character, but there isn’t anything funny about him. And
this is a comedy we’re watching, right? Jennifer Aniston is similarly unfunny
as Dr. Harris. She tries to commit to the psychosis of her character, but there
just isn’t anything funny about a woman with as much sex appeal as Aniston
strutting around half naked and acting like a nympho. Amy Poehler has played
characters like this before and made them uncomfortable and funny, Jane Lynch
would have been hilarious, I’m sure. Aniston just feels like a stunt casting
meant to sell sex rather than sell funny. Colin Farrell stands out by being the
only person in this film to really go for broad comedy. He’s wearing a crazy
bald cap, he’s got stupid clothes, and he’s not afraid to make himself look
like a total fool. In a film with an insane premise like this, Farrell’s
approach fit better than anyone else’s, and I wish the other actors had taken a
page out of his book.
It’s not that this film doesn’t have its moments, it’s
amusing; it’s just not big release feature film funny. The director, Seth
Gordon, is mostly known for directing episodes of TV comedies up till now, and
I think that feels fitting for how I responded to this movie. If Horrible Bosses were a TV show I would
probably catch an episode of it here and there and enjoy it. But for
appointment viewing that you buy a high priced ticket to go and watch, it
doesn’t quite deliver. There are no big, memorable moments, no one-of-a-kind
characters, there aren’t any quotes that are going to enter people’s lexicons,
and a lot of the gags feel predictable and ordinary. There was one punchline in
particular about a sex worker being mistaken for a hitman that anybody with a
brain could see coming a mile away, but which was presented as a shocking,
hilarious reveal and consequently made me groan. For an under the radar comedy
that you maybe catch on cable, Horrible
Bosses would be fine; but for a big summertime release, I couldn’t help but
be disappointed.
