Horrible Bosses (2011)

(Release Date: July 08, 2011)

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1/2

J.C. Maçek III The World's Greatest Critic! You know... Ever since I organized that Food Fight to celebrate our lottery winnings at my job, I have to admit that the dude I work for is, most assuredly, a HORRIBLE BOSS! To be fair, I totally admit that I should have verified whether we had ACTually won the lottery or not (instead of taking the word of that guy who was just fired) before I ordered those Taco Meringue Cobblers, that barbecue Jello, the vast vats of pineapple pudding, the banana/ bait infused whipped Crème fraiche, the joy jelly juice jets, the Neat Natchitoches Meat Pies, the Bengal Lomein, the caviar catapults and the cow-tongue and ox tail burritos (with extra garlic blue cheese hollandaise). Yeah, that totally makes sense to me now, I get it, but in my defense, I really thought we could pay for the office cleanup out of my portion of the damned winnings. Instead... well... There went that weekend. Since then, I've not had the same relationship with the man... it's safe to say he's become one of those Horrible Bosses, like WAY worse than those in the movie of the same name! Then again, maybe I'm to blame there. Kind of like when I ordered Grocery delivery from both the Safeway guy and the Kroger guy and I scheduled both for the same time and sat there behind my peep-hole with a digital video camera, filming the fight and snickering violently? Yeah, that could possibly make me the asshole there. Or... Or the test run I did when I called the Dominoes Dude and the Papa Johns Dude to see how the bigger fight might play out? Yeah... both... possibly partially have me to blame... I get that. But, hey, I'm editing both incidents into a YouTube video set to the music of "Bitch Make Sandwich" by the band Freaky Fukin Weirdoz. So STAY TUNED! Why do I mention this (aside from that band being totally awesome, underrated and almost completely unknown)? Is it to indicate that I totally identify with the hipsters in this here 2011 comedy film? Naw, man. It's to explain why I saw this during the opening weekend and am only reviewing it NOW! Been BUSY! But back to the function at hand, man! Horrible Bosses, the R-Rated comedy about three drinkin' buddies who have such nightmare supervisors that they ultimately decide that the best way out of their respective employment conundrums is to kill the ever-lovin' blue-eyed FUCK out of each of their respective bosses, is, surprisingly, a pretty horkin' good funny flick from the fucker who brought us the, yes, yes, documentary The King of Kong! Yes, Yes, folks, you've got Nick (Jason Bateman, the man tortured by his double-talking, circular logic-employing slice of USED Asshole boss Harken (Kevin Spacey, at his most Lex Luthor-ish); Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), whose dream-boss has passed away, making way instead for the nightmare cokehead douche-bag of Pellitt (Colin Farrell); and Dale (Charlie Day), whose nightmare includes being propositioned for sex by his incredibly hot boss Julia (Jennifer Aniston) whom even Gay Men would be tempted to switch for and have wild bouts of hot sex with. Okay, ONE of them doesn't have it so bad! Did I mention that Day's character of Dale is actually totally straight? Maybe he's never watched Friends! The premise is remarkably simple... "I hate my boss, you hate your boss, you hate YOUR boss too... so let's kill 'em!" Somehow the story by Michael Markowitz (who wrote the screenplay with Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley) manages to work pretty horkin' well in spite of (and, at times, because of) the ludicrous silliness of this endeavor. Whether they succeed in their seed-sucking plan or not is up in the air the whole time (especially considering these three goofy guys are as much like killers as She's the Sherriff is like a gritty, hard-hitting late-night Police Procedural Drama! I can tell you that along the way they cross paths with a "Murder Consultant" named Dean "Mother Fucker" Jones (Jamie Foxx) who helps them to plan out the diabolical death desserts. Amazingly, Foxx is only one of a loaded cameo cast (as if having Aniston, Spacey and Farrell in supporting roles wasn't enough). Before our song is done, we'll run afoul of Dave Sheridan, Ron White, Ioan Gruffudd, Wendell Pierce, Donald Sutherland, John Francis Daly and even Bob Newhart! The good news is that each appearance is funnier than the last. And that's what makes Horrible Bosses worth watching. It really IS that funny, without relying on all the funny parts being stuffed into the preview. However, there are some times that Horrible Bosses becomes a bit too farcical for its own good, stepping over the line of silly into the realm of the absurd. And that absurdity serves to create (and, the makers hope, also excuse) a number of plot holes and logic gaps. Some of these funny parts feel quite familiar as if following that same, basic R-Rated formula! Also, it's hard not to predict a great deal of the funny parts before they unfold. That's not to say there are no surprises... there are... but many of these surprises are exceptions that pop up after a string of predicted guffaws. Still, you might guffaw nonetheless and I, personally, left the theatre happy I saw Horrible Bosses enough to give it Three and One Half Stars out of Five! It's one of those go-to comedies you can return to again and again with friends... maybe not an absolute classic of the genre, but surely one you can say "Aw, you've got to see Horrible Bosses!" about, just before you say "See you in the Next Reel... Boss!"