REVIEW: Horrible Bosses

Also Jamie Foxx is a lot of fun in this movie.

I love how the main legacy of Hitchcock's terrific Strangers On A Train is everyone thinking that it makes for comedy gold. Because I know for damn sure when I saw this incredibly tense, messed up psychological thriller, the first thought through my mind this shit is hilarious. They should remake this with Danny DeVito. Because from 'Throw Momma From The Train' onward, you kill my problem and I'll kill yours has been a fairly consistent comedic mainstay, the latest of which is Horrible Bosses. Now this feels like one of those moments when studios put one and one together and it made 100 million, because this felt like a slam-dunk to the core. We're in a recession. Everybody's working jobs they hate to get by. Everyone hates their boss. Nobody's remade the HILARIOUS Strangers On A train in a while. They kill each other's bosses! Stunt-Cast the shit out of it and we've got ourselves a new private island.

And while Horrible Bosses is as watered down and as toothless as it's possible for an R rated US comedy to be, most of the cast is inspired enough that I had a good time in spite of the movie trying at all turns to be fucking stupid. And it was stupid and obvious and irritating and all those things Studio comedies always are. But it has a caliber of actor good enough to make what is probably a terrible script feel something like OK. The Bosses in particular are all terribly written caricatures turned into something like funny thanks to Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell. Spacey, well to be frank he's on autopilot here, chanelling that sarcastic psycho schtick that literally nobody in the history of time has done better and infusing it with the tiniest bit of ' I'm getting paid in 100's right?' disinterest. Spacey clearly deems this to be a walk in the park, whereas Aniston and Farrell seem vested in using this as an opportunity to play with their image. And both are fantastic, Aniston in particular tapping into something that is gleefully different from her usual dead-eyed roles.

I'd say my biggest problems with the film are the straight men leads, or at least 66% of them. Jason Bateman seems to be getting less interesting the more his career takes off, and now that he's a bona fide movie star, pretty much, he's become an incredibly watered down version of Michael Bluth persona that it's becoming increasingly difficult to explain why I think this guy is amazing. And on top of that, I don't get Jason Sudeikis. He's the kind of broad SNL comedian that gets a bunch of movie roles in a flash and then disappears of the face of the earth. I see no reason why he isn't the next Will Forte. Thanks heavens then for Charlie Day, who not only holds his own against the bosses, but is outright the best thing about the movie. As anyone who's stuck with the incredibly erratic It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia will know, Day always had a unique and oddball comedic energy that always stood out, certainly more so than the show itself. And it's gratifying to see him finally get his due and be the big movie star he certainly should be. He's awesome. And he, Aniston and Farrell elevate would could have been a horribly toothless fiasco become something that I enjoyed, even if I wouldn't say it's exactly a great movie.

Rating: 6/10