"Horrible Bosses"

Comedy. Rated R. 1 hour, 38 minutes.

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The cast makes this movie. All six of our main characters are solid in their roles, and go over-the-top when they need to. While you would never think of casting Bateman, Day, or Sudeikis as the main lead, they all work well in supporting roles, and that is what each has to do here. All three get about the same amount of screen time, even though their bosses do not. We see much more of Kevin Spacey than Jennifer Aniston or Colin Farrell. Our three unhappy employees work well together and fit their roles, although Day really stands out. Any fan of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” will love this movie because Day has many moments that will remind fans of his zany antics and outbursts familiar to the FX TV show.

The hardest thing the film has to do is convince the audience that these three generally nice hard working guys would want to actually commit murder. Fortunately, their bosses are all over-the-top evil, so it makes it easier for the audience to go along for the ride.

As for the bosses themselves, Spacey commands the most attention. He looked like he was just having a lot of fun on the screen playing the bane of Bateman’s existence. It was also nice to see Jennifer Aniston in a movie actually worth watching. She also looked like she was enjoying herself and had some of the film’s funniest lines of dialogue. Farrell is only really featured in a few scenes, and does everything he can to present his character as the most disgusting, worthless human being on the planet. Again, it is understandable why Sudeikis’ character would hate him so much.

I think a major reason why this film works is that it is so relatable. We have all had awful bosses, or had to take orders from someone we didn’t respect or who clearly did not deserve his or her position. Granted, very few of those actually come close to the bosses depicted in this film. But it still resonates with the audience.

OVERALL RATING: B+

Photo credit: New Line Cinema

Horrible Bosses movie poster