An often amusing and fun comedy, that with a bit more spark could have been hilarious

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2011)

We've all had them, haven't we that man or woman you despise in a position of power over you despite the fact they may not deserve that power. We all know or know of someone who abuses that little sprinkle of power that they have. I personally have worked in catering all my adult and half my teen-aged life, and that particular industry has those types of people in spades, even when you do everything in your power to please them, its still not enough! Ever fantasised about throwing said person out of a window, I know I have. I could just have a sick sense of humour that others may not share, but I generally have hated a lot of my bosses. So in comes Horrible Bosses, a film that promises to fore fill that immoral fantasy we cannot undertake.
The promise is made, but unsurprisingly not kept. The Villains of the piece include Kevin Spacey's CEO of a major company, that tortures his employee's like a playground bully. We also have Colin Farrells, coke snorting, spoilt brat wannabe playboy who inherits his fathers company with no intention of upholding it's values. And Finally Jennifer Anistons nymphomaniac dentist, with a rather ridiculous obsession with her dental assistant. The bosses are delightfully horrible, Jennifer Anistons in particularly nasty and you can easily see why the employee's would want to off these particular human beings.
Now the premise is here, it works for the most part and the bosses are in place. But now you need your employee's and I believe this is where the stumbling block may have been. They three male leads are funny and do have great moments , but there all one piece of the same puzzle. Variety is the spice of life so they say and more varied characters would have made this all the enjoyable. Having a female or a homosexual or an ethnic minority I believe would have been funnier. Jennifer Aniston coming on to her gay assistant as opposed to her straight one would have been far more entertaining and unexpected. Thats my own thought anyway, and many of the ethnic stereotypes in Horrible Bosses come across as a little crass.
There some rather brilliant bits, two of the employee's getting high off cocaine dust is brilliant and the bosses seem to have a lot of fun here. Of the R rated films I've seen this year Horrible Bosses manages to come off somewhere in the middle, better than The Hangover: Part 2, but not quite as good as Bridesmaids. Its most comparable film is probably Bad Teacher, in that both films took some jokes too far while others didn't go far enough. I think with a smarter plot the film could have been wittier and more exciting, it manages to stagger on the line of entertaining without really stretching the audience in any way.
Its a risk free comedy, that doesn't live up to the premise. There is much to enjoyed here, but generally this is a middle of the road comedy that had way more potential.