Review - Horrible Bosses

As Homer Simpson once said “Kill my boss? Do I dare live out the American dream?” Such is the case for the three unlucky employees in Horrible Bosses.

Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) all have horrible bosses, for varying reasons they all want them dead, I mean who hasn't wanted a to do that? Thus it kicks off from there with our three disgruntled employees, bumbling their way through the planning of each of their respective bosses’ murder.

The three friends all have very good chemistry together, with Jason Bateman’s dead pan delivery (which has become a trademark of his since Arrested Development) works in well with Jason Sudeikis’ pants man Kurt and Charlie Day’s neurotic, child like Dale. However, it is the a-hole bosses that steal the movie with each one of them are played with spectacular relish by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Spacey’s Dave Harken is a total jerk, with Spacey ringing out every last drop of evil from his character. Colin Farrell is almost unrecognisable due to the character he plays Bobby Pellitt, the coked out, hooker obsessed tool that would almost make Spencer Pratt look like a good bloke. Then we move onto Jennifer Aniston, after a lot of very, very bad roles, finally she comes out of her shell and gives her man eating, foul mouth, sex maniac Dr Julia Harris, a real edge, totally playing against type and certainly not playing it safe and she (and the audience) gets rewarded with probably her best performance yet. Jamie Foxx also plays a great little cameo, I won’t spoil it for you but every scene he is in is hilarious.

The writing is strong with plenty of gags being thrown at you but not so many that the jokes get suffocated.

A terrific comedy and probably one of the strongest ones of 2011, dwarfed by The Hangover 2 and Bridesmaids in terms of exposure but far funnier than either one them.