Horrible Bosses movie review

By Kate Southam, CareerOne

Three mates share a similar problem – a boss who makes life hell. Finding a new job would be the obvious solution but alas, circumstances outside their control lock them in place.

If only they could make their bosses disappear. Sound familiar? Who hasn’t dreamt of seeing a much unloved boss packing up their belongings in a cardboard box on their way to giving back their security pass? But how far would you go to make it happen?

Well, in the highly relatable US comedy, Horrible Bosses, our hapless heroes can’t think up a better plan so attempt to give murder a whirl. I saw a preview last Tuesday. Lots of sexual humour – lots and lots – and some toilet humour too but its the style made famous by The Hangover so what you going to do?

Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) meet regularly to drown their sorrows about work and lament their lack of options. (All three stars are in Australia right now to promote the film). The high jobless rate in the US is a background character that helps to create the desperation these blokes feel.

Dave Harkin (Kevin Spacey) is Nick’s boss. He is a narcissist in an expensive suit standing between Nick and a well-deserved promotion. Harkin revels in toying and humiliating Nick in front of the team. He is also ticked that he has an unfaithful wife (Julie Bowen of Modern Family) and so is in a perpetually bad mood and Nick is a convenient whipping post.

Kurt is best buds with his wonderful boss who hints that it will be Kurt and not his dead beat son Bobby Pellit (Colin Farrell) who will succeed him one day. Unfortunately, before that day comes, a twist of fate sees Kurt on direct report to Bobby. Farrell does a great job creating an over the top incompetent buffoon with a bad comb over. He sees the company Kurt loves as just “his personal ATM” and squanders money on cocaine and hookers – and all in work time. He tells Kurt to “trim the fat” meaning fire the fat people and refers to one wheel bound employee as “thinking he is so special rolling around in his secret little chair.”

Dale is a dental nurse with a high pitched voice and scream who works for a “nasty girl” dentist (Jennifer Aniston) who appears to spend most of her time thinking up ways to manipulate him into having sex with her. When he was little, Dale dreamed of being a husband and is engaged to be married, something his boss threatens to destroy. Aniston revels in her nymphomaniac character of Dr Julie Harris. In fact, I reckon this madly sexual dentist could only be played by a nice girl type like Aniston – not that a woman sexually harassing a man in is funny in real life but Dr Harris is so smoking hot that Dale finds it near impossible to get any sympathy from his friends.

During an evening of alcohol-infused bravado the trio hatches a plan to kill each other’s boss with the aid of their “murder consultant” played by Jamie Foxx. Slapstick bedlam follows as the trio’s attempts at murder go wrong and they each start to get pangs of guilt. Unfortunately, they cannot just forget their plan and get back to their wretched work lives as they have set off a chain of events that sees them chased by a real murderer and branded murder suspects by the police.

I would have liked more of the Jason Bateman-Kevin Spacey dialogue because that is the boss I’ve heard most about as an employment writer. Harkin is the control freak that sets up subordinates, sends them running in circles using word play and who believes that he is the only person who knows anything. I also love Bateman’s straight man delivery particularly the scene where he tries to explain why he was caught by a speed camera not far from a murder scene. “I was drag racing,” he tells an incredulous cop who shoots back “in a Prius?” The Toyota Prius and its navigation equipment actually save the day in the end but you will have to see the movie for yourself to find out how. Horrible Bosses opens in general release on August 25.

I don’t get to do many movie reviews but have been looking forward to Horrible Bosses because it is such an emotive and real subject. What would you like to do to a horrible boss? Do you have a better movie horrible boss? Cruel, dismissive Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in The Devil Wears Prada, credit stealing Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) in Working Girl?  Narcissist Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in Wall Street? Take your pick of monster-bosses in sales Kevin Spacey’s Buddy Ackerman in Swimming With Sharks Blake (Alec Baldwin) in Glengarry Glen Ross or my favourite if you want to see true mean is call centre boss Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) in The Last Seduction.

Who is the most horrible boss in the movies? Comment on this review at Kate Southam’s blog.
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