Horrible Bosses (2011)
Horrible Bosses (USA) Directed by Seth Gordon Written by Michael Markowitz; John Francis Daley; Jonathan Goldstein Starring Jason Sudekis; Jason Batemen; Charlie Day; Colin Farrell; Jennifer Aniston; Kevin Spacey; Jamie Foxx; Donald Sutherland; Lindsay Sloane; Julie Bowen
Seth Gordon (Four Christmases; Freakonomics) directs this mostly fun (and funny) comedy about three put upon employees who decide to help one another out by killing the others’ boss. Horrible Bosses manages to feel freewheeling without resorting to overindulgence, so while clearly scripted, the comedy has that improvised feel to it without getting into Cannonball Run territory. Jennifer Aniston seems to delight in her role as a foul mouthed, sexually predatory dentist, and the same can be said for Kevin Spacey as a vicious, dictatorial corporate exec, and Colin Farrell as Bobby, the balding, coke sniffing owner’s son, his physical transformation reminiscent of Tom Cruise’s turn in Tropic Thunder. Jason Sudekis; (the always solid) Jason Batemen; and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day (who is turning out to be the breakout film actor of that show’s bunch), make for an amusing trio of friends, sharing the kind of chemistry only possible with decent writing and well honed comic timing. Only some extra dollops of absurdity having to do with plot, and perhaps too little attention to what made the guys friends in the first place, keep the film from being memorable, though there are plenty of laughs to be had.