Horrible Bosses

Dir: Seth Gordon

2011

***

Horrible Bosses puts the comedy before the story and is all the better for it, although it hasn’t dated well in retrospect. I liked it because it doesn’t get too silly, the comedy lies in the great performances and the subtle script but the format has been bettered many times over since, so a good 2011 film has now become something of a forgotten comedy. The story involves three friends. Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) and Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) despise their bosses. Nick works at a financial firm for the sadistic David Harken (Kevin Spacey), who implies the possibility of a promotion for Nick for months, only to award it to himself. Dale is a dental assistant being sexually harassed by his boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) who continually threatens to tell his fiancée Stacy that he had sex with her unless he actually has sex with her. Nick and Dale's accountant friend Kurt Buckman enjoys working for Jack Pellitt at a chemical company, but after Jack unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, the company is taken over by Jack's cocaine-addicted son Bobby (Colin Farrell), whose apathy and incompetence threaten the future of the company. At night, over drinks, Kurt jokingly suggests that their lives would be happier if their bosses were no longer around. Initially hesitant, they eventually agree to kill their employers. It’s Strangers on a Train without the train and between friends, rather than strangers. In search of a hitman, the trio meet Dean "Muthafuckah" Jones (Jamie Foxx), an ex-con who agrees to be their "murder consultant". Jones suggests that Dale, Kurt and Nick kill each other's bosses to hide their motive while making the deaths look like accidents. The three first reconnoiter Bobby's house and steal Bobby's phone. They next go to Harken's house, where Kurt and Nick go inside while Dale waits in the car. Harken returns home and confronts Dale for littering, but then has an allergy attack from some peanut butter. Dale saves Harken by stabbing him with an EpiPen. Nick and Kurt think Dale is stabbing Harken to death and flee, with Kurt accidentally dropping Bobby's phone in Harken's bedroom. The next night, Kurt watches Julia's home, but she seduces and has sex with him. Nick and Dale reluctantly wait outside Bobby's and Harken's houses, respectively, to commit the murders, despite neither of them wanting to. Harken discovers Bobby's cellphone in his bedroom and uses it to find his address, suspecting his wife Rhonda is having an affair. He drives over and kills Bobby, with Nick as a secret witness. Nick flees at high speed, setting off a traffic camera as he does. The trio meet to discuss their reservations about continuing with their plan. They are questioned by the police, who believe the camera footage makes them suspects in Bobby's murder. Lacking evidence, the police are forced to let the trio go free. The trio consult with Jones again, but learn that he never actually killed anyone, having been imprisoned for bootlegging a film. Jones suggests that they get Harken to confess and secretly tape it. The three accidentally crash Harken's surprise birthday party, where Nick and Dale get Harken to confess to the murder before realizing that Kurt, who has the audio recorder, is elsewhere having sex with Rhonda. Harken threatens to kill all three for attempting to blackmail him. They flee by car, but Harken gives chase and repeatedly rams their vehicle. Believing they have committed a crime, the car's navigation-system operator remotely disables Kurt's car, allowing Harken to catch and hold them at gunpoint. Harken shoots himself in the leg as he boasts about his plan to frame them for murdering Bobby and attempting to kill him to get rid of the witness. The police arrest Nick, Dale and Kurt, but the navigation-system operator, Gregory, reveals that it is his company's policy to record all conversations for quality assurance. Gregory plays the tape that has Harken confessing he murdered Pellitt. Harken is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, while the friends get their charges waived. Nick is promoted to president of the company under a sadistic CEO, Kurt retains his job under a new boss, and Dale, with the help of Jones, blackmails Julia into ending her harassment. The film became famous for casting Jennifer Aniston in a role that was far from her previous work but for me it was Charlie Day’s performance that won. Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey went for it and I thought their comedy turns were great and I will always have time for Jason Bateman but I’m not a huge fan of Jason Sudeikis’ if I’m being honest. The film has received a lot of hate over the years and while it isn’t anything special, I did enjoy it and was pleasantly entertained throughout. It is nowhere near as great as director Seth Gordon’s brilliant documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters but it’s a hell of a lot better than his dire seasonal film Four Christmases.