Horribly Entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2012)

It's not often that an actor like Jason Bateman succeeds in both the small screen and the big screen. TV stars don't always make good movie stars, and movie stars can often be constrained by the limits of TV to really showcase their talents. In "Horrible Bosses," Jason basically plays Michael Bluth, his character from "Arrested Development," but in this incarnation, he's trapped in employment limbo and being kept from a raise and position in his company that he knows he deserves and that his boss wants to keep him from in order to keep him in servitude. Kevin Spacey plays his power-hungry boss and seems to be having fun in the tyrannical role portraying a sadist who delights in the misery of others just for the delight of being mean and nasty. Bateman is joined by Jason Sudekis and Charlie Day as his wildly irreverent friends. Jennifer Aniston is barely recognizable as the sex-crazed dentist, but she's still smoking hot as she goes through oozing sex. Colin Farrell is also altered to fit his character, but he is still recognizable as the Irish miscreant seen in so many of his movies. In this broad remake of "Strangers On A Train," Bateman, Sudekis and Day conspire to kill off each other's employers, advised by Jaime Fox whose character is not quite the criminal they believe he is. The best part of the movie is that the guys finally get the solutions to their problems, but not by actually murdering anyone, but by just sheer dumb luck and improbable situations that could only happen in the movie universe. This dark comedy has a great script, funny lines, enjoyable characters and a satisfactory conclusion that opens itself to new revelations. That's what makes the movie for me, setting up the stage to wonder what happens next without necessarily suggesting a sequel.