Likeable cast puts in overtime on raunchy humor in 'Horrible Bosses'
Take three yuppie guys, yank 'em out of their comfort zone, throw 'em into outrageous situations, toss in copious amounts of raunchy immaturity, and stir briskly. Hilarity ensues.
Theoretically.
It's the Reader's Digest version of the "Hangover" movies but it's also the basic premise of Horrible Bosses, the new comedy from TV director Seth Gordon ( Parks & Recreation, The Office, Community) about put-upon employees who decide to take workplace law into their own hands by offing their alternately fascistic, stupid or insanely sexually inappropriate employers. But the difference is this: Horrible Bosses, made current by the economic crisis in which lots of people these days have to grin and bear unbearable bosses, is somewhat funnier.
Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) are buddies whose otherwise comfortable lives are being made miserable by their nightmarish bosses. Dave (Kevin Spacey) enjoys crushing corporate climber Nick under his expensive boot heel. Bobby (Colin Farrell, playing against type) is a sex-, drugs- and martial arts-obsessed knucklehead who plans to bleed the company Kurt works for dry to feed his unseemly desires. Julia (Jennifer Aniston, who doesn't quite pull off being the randy seductress) has turned her dental practice into a hotbed of harassment. She aggressively pursues Dale, her assistant, who's determined to stay faithful to his fiancee.
Quitting is not an option -- a mutual friend (P.J. Byrne) who made it at Lehman Brothers before it crashed and burned hasn't worked in two years. So, what starts out as a barroom joke curdles into a devious plan to get rid of their superiors, permanently. Along the way, they get help from a would-be hit man (Jamie Foxx).
The occasionally unexpectedly savvy script, by Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein, blends references to Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train and the 1999 film Snow Falling on Cedars with the more predictable R-rated slapstick high jinks.
Gordon gets solid comedic performances from the three leads, even though Day is basically reprising his nebbish character from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. While Bosses never gets below the surface of its premise to become a really cutting dark comedy and satire of our times, it's better than the one-joke sitcom concept it appears to be in the trailers. Oh, and be sure to stay for the end credits.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/07/3203715/likeable-cast-puts-in-overtime.html#tvg#ixzz1RWbkbIOg
Theoretically.
It's the Reader's Digest version of the "Hangover" movies but it's also the basic premise of Horrible Bosses, the new comedy from TV director Seth Gordon ( Parks & Recreation, The Office, Community) about put-upon employees who decide to take workplace law into their own hands by offing their alternately fascistic, stupid or insanely sexually inappropriate employers. But the difference is this: Horrible Bosses, made current by the economic crisis in which lots of people these days have to grin and bear unbearable bosses, is somewhat funnier.
Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) are buddies whose otherwise comfortable lives are being made miserable by their nightmarish bosses. Dave (Kevin Spacey) enjoys crushing corporate climber Nick under his expensive boot heel. Bobby (Colin Farrell, playing against type) is a sex-, drugs- and martial arts-obsessed knucklehead who plans to bleed the company Kurt works for dry to feed his unseemly desires. Julia (Jennifer Aniston, who doesn't quite pull off being the randy seductress) has turned her dental practice into a hotbed of harassment. She aggressively pursues Dale, her assistant, who's determined to stay faithful to his fiancee.
Quitting is not an option -- a mutual friend (P.J. Byrne) who made it at Lehman Brothers before it crashed and burned hasn't worked in two years. So, what starts out as a barroom joke curdles into a devious plan to get rid of their superiors, permanently. Along the way, they get help from a would-be hit man (Jamie Foxx).
The occasionally unexpectedly savvy script, by Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein, blends references to Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train and the 1999 film Snow Falling on Cedars with the more predictable R-rated slapstick high jinks.
Gordon gets solid comedic performances from the three leads, even though Day is basically reprising his nebbish character from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. While Bosses never gets below the surface of its premise to become a really cutting dark comedy and satire of our times, it's better than the one-joke sitcom concept it appears to be in the trailers. Oh, and be sure to stay for the end credits.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/07/3203715/likeable-cast-puts-in-overtime.html#tvg#ixzz1RWbkbIOg
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