I really enjoyed the first Horrible Bosses. Not because it was particularly well-directed
or well-acted; mainly because of the cast, and the complete ease with which the
three leads interacted with each other.
I’ve been a fan of Jason Bateman since the Hogan Family and through
Arrested Development (if you’ve never watched that – it’s on Netflix, go ahead
and binge-watch the first few seasons).
Charlie Day is arguably the funniest part of It’s Always Sunny In
Philadelphia, and Jason Sudekis was hilarious on many years of SNL. Together, the three of them were charming and
hilarious, and it was easy to see that they had a great time making the movie
and probably improv-ing most of the scenes.
Basically – the first movie told the tale of three regular
guys who each had literally horrible bosses.
I mean, truly horrible bosses.
They hatch a desperate and stupid plot to try to kill their bosses –
which goes horribly awry – leading to many comedy hijinks.
The second one picks up fairly quickly with a very quick summary
of the events of the previous film – in case you didn’t see it. Nick, Kurt, and Dale decided to quit their
jobs and be their own bosses – creating the “Shower Buddy”, a device that seems
to shoot shampoo and body wash on you from your shower head – which doesn’t
sound like a good idea to me. They
present it on a local TV morning show where it is seen by a big time
investor. He places a huge order with
their fledgling company – which they fill, only to find that he’s planned for
them to go into bankruptcy so that he can by their company and shift production
to China. The three are angry, and hatch
a desperate and stupid plot to kidnap his son.
Guess what? It goes horribly
awry, and comedy hijinks ensue!
Unlike the first movie (which was directed by Seth Gordon,
who did Breaking in on TV, and Identity Thief), this one is directed by Sean
Anders, who did Sex Drive and That’s My Boy.
It requires very little complex directing – mainly just letting the
actors go when they are on a roll. As
with the first movie, the plot is so completely ridiculous, the movie is
basically slapstick humor, which works well with the cast.
- Jason Bateman once again plays Nick – who seems to be the ‘brains’ of the operation. Although – compared to his two friends, that is not saying much. Bateman has an ease with comedy and comes off as completely relatable, even when in ridiculous circumstances. His frustration with his two pals is complete, until he finally gives in and goes with their nonsense.
- Jason Sudekis plays Kurt – who is still the over-the-top womanizer he was in the first movie. He has an amazing ability to play this dumb womanizing tool, and yet make him really likeable. It’s an odd talent, but works well in this movie. I love the bit with the walkie-talkies and code names.
- Charlie Day plays Dale – who married his love from the first movie (played by Lindsay Sloane) and they now have triplets. Day is basically a human cartoon character, and his sputtering disbelief is completely hilarious. I particularly enjoy Dale’s inclusion of his wife and kids in the fantasy success sequence, it’s cute and funny.
- Jennifer Aniston returns as Julia, the dentist – who was Dale’s sexual harassing boss in the first movie. In this one, she is attempting (barely) to get treatment for her sex addiction. I found Aniston hilarious in the first one, and she’s hilarious in this one as well. It’s a great chance for her to show a completely different side from those who only knew her from Friends, but the side some of us remember from her sketch comedy show, The Edge.
- Kevin Spacey returns as Nick’s terrible boss Dave, who is now in prison as the result of his actions in the first movie. They go to him for advice after realizing they don’t really know anything about business. He doesn’t really help them so much as just make fun of them.
- Jamie Foxx plays Motherf**ka Jones – the ‘criminal’ the guys consult for assistance on their schemes. Once again he proves to be a terrible negotiator, and offer terrible advice, but the guys come to him anyway.
- One of the new additions to the sequel is Christoph Waltz as Bert, the investor who orders from the guys only to turn around and screw them over. He seems to handle everything with an extra bit of demonic glee, which is really fun to watch.
- The second of the new additions is Chris Pine as Rex, Bert’s son, and would-be kidnap victim. He’s the absolute worst kind of privileged kid, and I was a little worried about how Pine would fit in with the rest of this cast who are really comedy-capable, but he was the surprise for me, and was actually much better than I expected – and certainly funny.
There’s also a pretty great Keegan Michael Key cameo as one
of the morning TV hosts.
Overall, I thought the movie was hilarious. It might not be better than the first, but I
thought it was almost as good. I really
enjoyed the scenes of the three guys planning together because, really, I would
watch those three guys in a room doing improv for hours.
8 out of 10 – Gained points for the Dale’s kidnap plan,
which involved a zipline and a trampoline.
Lost points for Rex’s secretary – sheesh. Gained points for Kurt being amazed by Rex’s
eyes when he starts crying “look how blue they are!”. Lost points for Motherf**ka’s arrival at
just the right moment (why was he there?) but then, gained points for the
police chase, and for them waiting as a train goes by for the police, who are
trapped on the other side – hilarious.
Bonus Video 1:
Breaking In – I thought this show was hilarious, and I’m sad it never
really got a chance to get going.
Bonus Video 2: Office Space - the first 'horrible boss' movie, also with Aniston!
Bonus Video 3: Cast
Interviews
Horrible Bosses 2, just as expected, isn't better than the first go-around, but still has its moments to shine.
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