Horrible Bosses suffers from an inconsistent and relatively superficial screenplay, but packs just about enough laughs for a recommendation

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 2011)

Horrible Bosses (2010)
Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day are three friends who all have bosses they would like to see expired. Eventually they try to murder them.
Bateman is haunted by psycho-boss Kevin Spacey, who is as usual fantastic in his delivery of a high dosage of sarcasm...Sudeikis is left with a selfish, coarse coke-head (Colin Farrell, in a caricature), who is interested in short-term profits...Day is teased and sexually harassed by his sexually maniacal orthodontist boss, Jennifer Aniston, who is effectively gross-out in her delivery of some excessively vivid dialogue...
In its general outline, the film tries to follow the recently successful formula of 'The Hangover' (2009), the three-buddy R-Rated comedy...While not as refreshingly hilarious as the first Hangover, it is definitely cruder and meaner...in fact the film hits a raw nerve by highlighting (in a comical and never pragmatic manner) the power of the employer over the employee in such recessive economic times...
The film has an interesting premise, and enough star-power to entertain (including an amusing cameo from Jamie Foxx), but the screenplay never works hard enough to pay off in a greatly satisfying manner. Nonetheless, 'Horrible Bosses' is a satisfactory comedy, amidst a pile of cinematic trash of the 2011 summer season...
6/10