'Horrible Bosses': A Performance Review

Rating: 4/10 (8 January 2012)

There are a few laughs in 'Horrible Bosses.' Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Colin Farrell seem to be having fun playing the titular bosses. And Charlie Day is enjoyable, at least when he can stop shrieking long enough to spit out a decent line. But beyond that, there's not much to enjoy in this lazy, forgettable attempt at a black comedy.
The movie focuses on three ordinary guys, played by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis, who plot to kill their bosses for no reason other than that their bosses are jerks, and they can't simply quit because, like, it's a recession and stuff, and it's bad out there ya know? Like, so bad that their former investment banker classmate is giving out $50 handjobs! And loudly announcing that fact in his hometown bar, because that is what a recession does to people. Look, I get that the concept isn't supposed to be taken seriously. We're just supposed to sit back and roll with it and wait for the humorous and outlandish consequences that will inevitably result from this wacky scenario. Yet the movie goes to great lengths to rationalize the protagonists' decision, which comes off as a lot of clunky exposition in which the characters do a lot of sitting around and bluntly stating things that they should already know about one another. The result is an odd mix of tones, where the film tries to stay grounded when it would really do better to just commit to being wacky.
Another problem with this movie is the "raunchy" humor. Raunch has been done to death, and let's face it, it's just lazy. When we first meet Jennifer Aniston's character, she's talking about fingering herself to Penn Badgely. Haha, shock value! Jennifer Aniston is totally playing against type! And then, the joke just goes on and on, with the raunch escalating in every scene. Aside from the disturbing double standard being employed here, in which the audience is expected to find hilarity in a female boss aggressively sexually harassing a male employee, the joke is just plain lazy. As are the endless series of dick jokes that only 8 year-olds would find funny. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a well-crafted dirty joke, but I also don't believe that "dirty" is always an acceptable alternative to "clever". But maybe that's just me.
Issues aside, 'Horrible Bosses' isn't altogether terrible. Like I said, it's good for a few laughs. But mostly what you've got is a pretty lame black comedy with a predictable plot, leads who are enjoyable but have zero chemistry with one another, and a whole genital-oriented humor. But hey, Colin Farrell's got a bad combover! P.S. If Colin Farrell's character routinely held hookers-and-blow parties in his office, how hard would it have been to just tip off the cops and get the guy arrested instead of killing him?