Horrible Bosses

Management candidate Nick (Jason Bateman) works 12 hour days for sadistic boss Harken (Kevin Spacey) with the promise of promotion. He finds out it's a lie the same day he gets a roasting for being 2 minutes late and Harken tricks him into drinking at 8am just to brand him an alcoholic. Timid dental assistant Dale (Charlie Day) is struggling with advances of Dr. Julia (Jennifer Aniston), who is threatening to tell his new fiancee they had sex... if they don't have sex. Accountant Kurt (Jason Sudekis) has the world's best boss, but after a tragic accident his job is left in the hands of his boss's son, Pellit (Collin Farrell in almost unrecognisable makeup) who is openly set on ruining Kurt's career and making as much money out of the company as possible, even at the cost of dumping toxic waste on an unsuspecting population. So, as the poster says in big letters, a psycho, a nympho and a tool.

The question is: why don't they just quit? A well-timed meeting with their friend Kenny (an ex investment banker with a Yale degree who is begging for money in their local bar because even HE can't get a job) makes the decision for them. After a realistically dark, drunken conversation about killing their bosses and a false start with what turns out not to be a hit man, they end up meeting Jamie Foxx, their ex-con "murder consultant".

It sounds like a long time just to set up the premise of what is, in effect, a caper movie. Strangely enough, Bateman, Day and Sudekis have such a constant (and more importantly, realistic) patter that it all seems to happen naturally. The dynamic seems real, with Sudekis as a likeable womaniser, Bateman as the voice of reason and Day as the unhinged whipping boy of the group. As common faces in the SNL-style generation of buddy-comedy, it's not hard to imagine why Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Ashton Kutcher were considered for their parts. There are a few nice cameos, my favourites being Isaiah Mustafa (the Old Spice Guy) and Wendell Pierce (Bunk to fans of The Wire, as a police officer, obviously).

The film has been criticised for being dark, crude, misogynistic and a little racist. With the current crop of buddy-comedies from filmmakers like Judd Apatow, we're finally facing the fact that groups of men (or boys in Superbad) ARE dark, crude, and a little misogynistic. The fact that they get what they deserve for their casually racist assumptions towards Jamie Foxx carries forward a message, and the joke is (in the end) on them.

Horrible Bosses is a funny film. taking inspiration from the secret thought everyone has had at some point about their boss, teacher or whoever has made their life a misery. It doesn't have the sparkle of immediate favourites of its kind like The Hangover or Superbad, but it is definitely worth a watch.