| Horrible Bosses |
| Written by Nick West | |||
| Monday, 18 July 2011 08:52 | |||
 Director, Seth Gordon has a lot of heart. His first feature, "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,"was a documentary about a man trying to beat the world's record at the 1980'svideo-game, Donkey Kong. It made me cry. Not kidding. In "Horrible Bosses,"Gordon has really hit the big time. Directing a huge cast in a raunchy comedy,he shows that he has what it takes to create memorable characters. Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis play old friends who still get together for a drink or two after work. They love their jobs buthate their bosses, with Sudeikis as the exception, until his father-figure boss dies, and his coke-snorting son takes over the company. The bosses in question are, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell. The bosses are so sadistic, harassing and uncaring, the friends come to the conclusion and agreement that the world would be better off without them. They form a pact to murder each other's bosses, and set about finding their weaknesses, as to play things off as an accident. How bad are the bosses? Kevin Spacey is joyously sadistic as a company president. He makes Bateman's character miss his Grandma's death, tricks him into drinking scotch at eight in the morning and promotes himself to the position Bateman deserves. He then claims to "own" Bateman and makes him aware that he can completely destroy his reputation if he ever quits. Jennifer Aniston has moved into theI-have-botox-and-can't-move-my-face stage of being an actress. However, she is fun and right-on as an evil-seductress. Aniston sexually harasses Charlie Day to ridiculous lengths. She takes damning photos of him while he's sedated and threatens to destroy his relationship with his fiancee. Colin Farrell is bald and paunchy. He torments Sudeikis by threatening to take down the company he loves, snorting coke and bringing hookers to the office. All the while, Sudeikis is given a choice to fire others or be fired, just for the sadistic pleasure of it all. "Horrible Bosses" is a movie for our times, in that, quitting a job is such a fearful thing, that men would actually contemplate murdering their managers instead of facing our current jobless economy. The movie becomes relevant to the masses. However, for such a dark theme, "Horrible Bosses" is a comedy. And boy, did it make me laugh.Bateman, Day and Sudeikis work beautifully as a comedic trio. They play off each other so well, I was convinced they really were old pals. And the above mentioned bosses are brilliant, as well. The casting was like a playground of character actors. Gordon lets them fly over the top—and it totally works. Spacey is the most fleshed-out boss. And we definitely don't get enough of Farrell. The boys seek for help in a rough part of town. Jamie Foxx shows up as a "murder consultant." He also teaches white people a nice little lesson about stereotypes. As the plan continues, Bateman, Day and Sudeikis are thrown into one hilarious scene after another. Seemingly random moments kept the audience rolling: A psychotic cat, a box of cocaine and Spacey's allergic reaction to peanuts all pay off well. Now, structurally, "Horrible Bosses" is not up to par. The third act deus-ex-machina is almost too much to handle. But as I've said before, if a comedy makes me laugh, it did its job. "Horrible Bosses" made me laugh for almost the entire runtime. I hope Bateman, Day and Sudeikis team up for another movie. They won me over as a team. And if Gordon can direct, I'll be the first in line. p.s. As a bonus, "Horrible Bosses" has two cameos that feature actors from "the best television show ever" "The Wire." Watch for it. Caption: Kevin Spacey and Jason Bateman Regal E-Walk Stadium 13 & RPX247 W. 42nd St. R • 1 hr. 40 min
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