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As revenge fantasies go, “Horrible Bosses” has termination-level priority problems. Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) are friends bound by their mutual loathing of their bosses — a heartless financier (Kevin Spacey), a sex-crazed dentist (Jennifer Aniston) and a cokehead industrial heir (Colin Farrell), respectively. Way too effective in its half-assedness, the trio’s plan to off the overlords is dying for urgency, as no guy ever stops to truly grasp the gravity of the situation. Assassination feels like a Post-It on a film about manboys being manboys, and it certainly doesn’t help that the bosses make better company.
Spacey is in sinful actorly bliss, zealously shooting off insults like he’s keeping a tally (don’t expect many understated “Devil Wears Prada” jabs here). Though especially shortchanged, Farrell wholly embraces his uglification (comb-over and all), along with a daft vocabulary of political incorrectness. And Aniston has never invited us to so gleefully partake in her presence, dropping hysterical sexpletives that’ll leave Rachel Green fans in tears, for one reason or another. But the outrageous baddies don’t get much play beyond their intros, while the spotlight-hogging slaves devolve into their types — Kurt the hopeless skirt-chaser, Dale the shrill unmasculine fool and Nick the grandma’s boy who fades into the background.
The laughs come hard and often when “Horrible Bosses” kicks off, and you sense you might be witnessing a new classic of workplace rebellion — the “Office Space” for the age of take-what-you-can-get employment (a desperate subplot about a very desperate Wall Street failure is the closest the movie comes to outright addressing its relevance). But what emerges feels miles away from the film’s high concept, which proves little more than a fun-on-paper ploy for yet more inane male banter.
Directed by Seth Gordon, whose last misstep was “Four Christmases,” “Horrible Bosses” underscores the vastness of the gulf between great comedies. Instead of a worthwhile recharge station to tide us over, what we usually get is stuff like this: A comedy about whacking, out of whack.
Horrible Bosses
R
Two reels out of four
Now playing in area theaters
Potiche
R
Available Tuesday
The great Catherine Deneuve stars in this flamboyant lark about a tyrannical factory owner’s pampered spouse — the title translates to “trophy wife” — who takes over the business following a staff revolt. Sordid histories abound in a bright milieu of 1970s flash, as director Francois Ozon delivers the rare feminist film that’s confident enough to laugh at itself. SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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