Horrible Bosses is funny but could have been MUCH better

Rating: 5/10 (9 July 2011)

The first 1/3 of this movie was amazing. The premise was clever, and nothing was overdone. The acting was great and the delivery was near perfect. The characters were great as were the writing and while not completely original the film still drove the plot in a unique way.
However the movie's greatest flaw is that it becomes too goofy and unbelievable.
A movie about killing your bosses already requires you to suspend your disbelief, however it is much more funny when done SOMEWHAT believable and realistic. The characters become overly dumb, do too many over the top crazy things and scenes turn out so unrealistic and goofy that it is just not as funny anymore.
It was funnier when it was more subtle and believable. It almost feels as if the writers got lazy as the transition occurs over the course of just one scene and the movie then takes a dive from there.
One example is the character harassed by his boss, Jennifer Aniston. He was done very well in the beginning but by the end is so over the top that his voiceonly serves as an annoyance. The movie takes a plunge from clever and creative jokes to screaming and ridiculous scenes with more cursing showing what felt like a desperation to get a laugh.
Jamie Foxx's character was uninteresting, and Jason Bateman's new boss gave a horrible bland performance as if it was his first time acting and he wasn't even trying, but those were the only bad performances in the movie. Kevin Spacey was brilliant as we're the bosses and leads. More screen time for Colin Farrell's character would have been welcome. Almost everyone gives a good performance in this movie.
Even after the first 1/3 when the movie took a turn for the worst it still manages to be clever and get some laughs throughout the rest of the film, showing this movie had more promise if better writing was present. However it was nowhere near as good as the beginning 1/3.
Horrible Bosses WILL make you laugh, however the over the top writing and acting hurts it greatly and what could have been a great classic comedy is now just another average flick.
First 1/3 of the movie gets a 9 out of 10.
Latter 2/3 of the film gets a 5 out of 10.
Overall score of 6 out of 10.