Dumb, dumber, dumbest - Bateman/Sudeikis/Day's three stooges make up for a could've been darker, black comedy

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2011)

HORRIBLE BOSSES (2011) **1/2 Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Julie Bowen, Donald Sutherland, Ioan Gruffudd, (cameo: Bob Newhart) Three put-upon buddies contemplate killing off their terrible higher-ups with new levels of low-brow comedy slapstick and "Three's Company" –style misunderstandings that continue to pile on like lemmings off a cliff. Fine casting of dumb (Bateman's subtly dry-as-Saltines deliveries and devastating deadpan should be considered lethal comic weapons!), dumber (Sudeikis' dippy/cool bro/ladies' man) and dumbest (Day's harried yelping 'hamster' as one character wryly opines) make up for the could've-been-darker screenplay by Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley (who has a small part as Bateman's harangued co-worker) and Jonathan M. Goldstein, while Seth Gordon's static direction could've used more comic juice, it's game ensemble more than makes up for particularly the awful employers of Spacey (essentially riffing on his SWIMMING WITH SHARKS personae), Farrell's cokehead with a comb over douche bag, and oversexed dentist Aniston getting her ya-yas out. Only Foxx as a hit-man adviser and Gruffudd's 'wet works man' are the weakest links.