Politically Incorrect But Above-Average Hilarity

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2011)

"Horrible Bosses" qualifies as hilarious hokum from fade-in to fade-out. Of course, this imaginative but subversive R-rated comedy of errors about premeditated murder is not designed for everybody. If you can tolerate neither profanity nor homicide, then this laugh-fest may not be appropriate fare. Conversely, if you have or have had a boss who deserved a slow death, "Horrible Bosses" could make you laugh instead of wallow in your homicidal tendencies. The biggest joke of "Horrible Bosses," which truly lives up to its descriptive title, is that the heroes behave like The Three Stooges. Imagine a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train," except our wannabe killers lack the nerve to go for the jugular. They don't have any murderous bones in their collective bodies. Most contemporary Hollywood thrillers feature one chief villain, but "Horrible Bosses" boasts three! Two are male, but one is female, while our protagonists are all men. "Horrible Bosses" contains many amusing scenes, especially when Nick hurls his boss out of a skyscraper. "Identity Thief" director Seth Gordon gives us a jolt every now and then with pussycats that burst out of nowhere to startle Nick and Kurt.
Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman), Dale Arbus (Charlie Day), and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) all suffer the agonies of the damned as they tangle hopelessly with their respective bosses, Dave Harkin (Kevin Spacey of "Superman Returns"), Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. (Jennifer Aniston of "Rock Star"), and Bobby Pellit (Colin Farrell of "Miami Vice"). Clearly the worst of the three, Harkin qualifies as a smiling sadist with a streak of misanthropy. When he isn't terrorizing poor Nick, Harken believes that his wife Rhonda (Julie Bowen of "Amy's Orgasm") is having sex with everybody but him. Incidentally, Rhonda may be cuckolding Harken because she has quickie bathroom sex with Kurt during Harken's surprise birthday party. Aniston plays a sexy but unscrupulous dentist who takes advantage of Dale, her male dental assistant who is a registered sex offender. Meanwhile, Sudeikis deals with a total swine of a boss who is a cokehead. Colin Farrell stretches the most as an actor here because he looks nothing like he typically does in movies. Here Farrell wears a sculpted beard and has his hair thinned out so he looks like he is losing his hair.
After our woebegone protagonists have put up with far too much abuse, they locate an African-American, Dean 'MF' Jones (Jamie Fox of "Miami Vice"), who is on parole. Initially, they think that he will terminate their bosses with extreme prejudice. One of the running jokes is the use of Dean's profane nickname that our heroes use in the most casual way. Anyway, 'MF' refuses to commit the killings for them, but he agrees to serve as their "murder consultant" for $5000. At the time, our foolish protagonists believed 'MF' pulled a 10 year stretch in the big house for murder. One of the surprises of "Horrible Bosses" is that Dean wasn't convicted of murder. He did time because the authorities caught him in a movie theater with a video camera recording a film! Nevertheless, 'MR' tells our hapless trio: "Most killers are first-timers. You wanna pull off a brilliant murder; you gotta act like it's an accident. Failed brakes, gas leaks, suicide. You do it right, you ain't even gotta be there when it goes down." Sounds like 'MR' saw the Charles Bronson hit-man movie "The Mechanic" because the Bronson character staged each hit as if it were an accident. Hendricks remains skeptical about MR's advice: "Sounds like Scooby-Doo. How are we supposed to fake three accidents?" Our heroes are naturally disappointed by 'MF's lack of participation. According to 'MF,' they must "stalk their prey." Second, he continues: "Gotta be smart. Find out where they live, find out their habits. What's their hobbies?" Nevertheless, 'MR' warns them if they have motives that the 'popo' will find them. Nick points out, "We all have clear motives for killing our bosses, . . .so this is not gonna work. This is garbage." 'MF' suggests they "kill each other's bosses." This is when Kurt alludes to Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train." Dale hasn't seen "Strangers on a Train," but he has seen the Danny DeVito movie "Throw Momma from a Train." "We kill each other's bosses, there's no link to us," Kurt observes.
During the remainder of "Horrible Bosses," comedy galore ensues, particularly while Hendricks and Buckman are in Dave Harken's house, and dimwitted Dale Arbus (Charlie Day of "Pacific Rim") sits parked outside the house. Harken surprises Dale after the latter has littered and reprimands him for littering. Harken catches a whiff of peanuts and collapses helpless to the pavement, and witless Dale struggles to save Harken's life without realizing who Dave is. Everybody gets their just comeuppance, especially Julia. Director Seth Gordon and his scenarists do an exemplary job of foreshadowing what occurs later in this politically incorrect comedy. One of the biggest surprises occurs outside Bobby's house while Nick is watching Kurt's boss. Donald Sutherland has a brief bit as Kurt's boss. The ending with Nick meeting his new boss, Mr. Sherman (Bob Newhart), is really funny. "Horrible Bosses" never stops spouting jokes.