It Was Hilarious the First Time...

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2015)

I'm doing a double review today of this and Horrible Bosses 2, which is playing at my dorm building's theater tonight, and I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed with this film after I have seen it so much. Noticing this film has little comedy that is actually clever or invested in character rather than just random jokes, this film merely passes as an entertaining, easy watch to me now. At its best, this film takes good philosophy from Strangers on a Train as well as Crime and Punishment and grounds it in a story that many can relate to - hating their bosses. It is also a meta-film at points, aware of and referencing other films in pop culture, even making fun of crime movies with how little money is actually in the briefcase given to Mother F***er Jones ($5000 IS a small amount of money to pay for a crime - sorry, murder consultation). The comedy of the movie is primarily driven through the characters of Dave Harken (Bateman's boss played by Kevin Spacey) and reactions/mistakes/quirkiness coming from Dale (Charlie Day's character). In 2011 my thoughts were that if Robert Downey Jr. can be nominated for an Oscar for his role in Tropic Thunder, why cannot Kevin Spacey be nominated for his great mannerisms in this comedy? Spacey is clearly the strongest actor in this movie, which is a disappointment with him getting little screen time as one of the bosses who need to go. Like most comedies this seems to be more of the "lightly edited improv" we get instead of smarter comedies such as the recent film The World's End, which actually use visual comedy. Cinematically, the only aspects of this film I found interesting were a good time lapse that happens around Nick at the beginning of the film and the feel of a camcorder when Jones is using one at the end of the film. To enjoy it, I guess do not watch it as many times as I have and you might get some good laughs from it.