Got back from seeing the movie this afternoon (instead of seeing HP, but whatever), and I figured I'd post my review here until I get some vestige of a blog or posting site made.

Short version: it's a great movie, you'll laugh your ass off the entire movie, one of the best movies of Kevin Spacey's career, best thing Jennifer Aniston has ever done (and that includes 236 episodes of fucking Friends), best movie Jamie Foxx has done since Ray, and holy fuck is Jennifer Aniston hot as all hell in this movie.

Long version (tl,dr ahead):

You know, most critics will say that movies like this are some of the hardest films to review, because if you want to review a comedy properly for an audience that hasn't seen the movie, you don't want to spoil any of the jokes or the movie. And let me tell you, there are some jokes in this movie that you just don't want spoiled.

And yeah, there are some damn great jokes in this film, and I don't want to spoil any of them - but on the other hand, not having to discuss the plot or the jokes in this movie will probably make this review one of my shortest yet, which I can only assume all of my readers will consider a plus. So win-win, I guess.

For starters, let me make this very clear: Horrible Bosses only needed a few things to work as a comedy. It needed a decent plot with a few unexpected twists that had the capability to take it from average to great. It needed good acting and a unique cast of characters. And it needed to have enough original material to keep it from being hopelessly average.

And I'm happy to say that Horrible Bosses has all three of these things. This is a compact shot of raunchy comedy that will make you laugh for the entire hour-and-a-half and leave you satisfied, and it delivers excellently by reworking a very basic format: three idiots get into a crazy situation, and hijinks ensue. It's Three Stooges comedy, delivered with a modern raunchy twist.

And I've got to be honest, I'm really not a fan of this style of humor - I tend to consider it more than a little stupid - but this movie elevates that material with some exceptionally fast and witty dialogue, an extremely tight screenplay, and some great original material. And let me emphasize this: this is a very quick movie, and it's a sign of the tightness of the writing that I was laughing pretty much from beginning to end. There weren't any wasted moments in this movie, and I really liked that.

So let's talk about the acting, and let me make one thing very clear: the reason so much of the dialogue works is because Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis have great comedic timing with each other, but the interesting thing is how their humour styles contrast with each other. Sudeiks is playing the smooth-talking ladies-man, Day is playing the over-the-top oddball, and Bateman is playing the dry, sarcastic normal guy that's desperately trying to maintain control of the situation. The fact that all three of them can bounce great comedy off each other is really impressive. If I had to complain about anything, I'd argue that Sudeikis isn't given qutie as much to do as Day or Bateman, but he's still pretty damned funny.

And the strange thing is that, unlike Superbad (which is one of my favourite comedies), none of these characters have much of a character arc in the long term - and at the end of the movie, I really don't care all that much that nothing was learned or reconciled or even that there was much growth. And frankly, this isn't much like me, so why am I willing to give this movie a pass when I ripped on, say, Transformers?

Well, for pretty much one reason: the antagonists and supporting cast, and their character development. Colin Farell does a passable job as one of the bosses, and he looks like he's having a lot of fun, but there wasn't many scenes with him to make much of an impact besides to establish that he's a massive douchebag - but even that is given development, given his relationship with his father. But realy, it's the rest of the supporting cast that steals the goddamned movie. Jamie Foxx does a great job as a 'murder consultant' with a twist that comes out of motherfucking nowhere - and while some elements of his character are served primarily for laughs, it's easily the best role he's had since Ray won him an Oscar. And Kevin Spacey... okay, wow, Kevin Spacey is amazing in this. It's clear he's having the time of his life in this movie, with a character arc that's not only believable, but allows him to show off a pretty damned impressive acting range, and give him real potency as an antagonist in this movie, particularly in the third act. And coupled with the fact he has so much screen presence, he just owns this entire movie whenever he's on screen.

And yeah, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jennifer Aniston as the last boss, and while some have commented that her antics (which I will not spoil) are a little hard to believe... well, knowing some people I do, she's very believable. Sure, she's completely, obsessively nuts and incredible to watch (for multiple reasons - see the movie, you'll understand), but she also adds an interesting dimension to her performance that surprised me a bit. It's easily her best performance in anything I've ever seen with her in it, and certainly the funniest thing she's ever been in, period (and yes, that includes all 236 episodes of Friends (I'd argue all of them put together, but I can't stand Friends)).

Is this movie flawless? Well, not entirely. It has a very breezy tone and feel that makes it feel a bit insubstantial, and some of the jokes fall a little flat (although the subversion jokes in this movie are just gold if you get the references). And it's very short - just over a hour and a half - and I suspect it won't leave much of an impact, which is a shame. And finally, while I am shocked that this movie didn't get the R-rating, on reflection it really could use it if it wanted to pad out the storyline and add a little more to the running time.

But the thing I liked best with this movie is the shift in tone, particularly in the third act, as some of the implications of the three idiots' murder plans begin to play out - and much to my relief, it doesn't cripple the movie for two main reasons. Firstly, the main antagonist plays the role with deadpan seriousness and is still really funny, and secondly, there's a very real self-awareness about this movie, that shows a real 'trope-savviness' you don't tend to see in a lot of comedies these days. The closest thing I can think to describe it to is the Scream movies, where the characters try to deconstruct the horror of their situation and thus end up completely sucking any suspense from the movie (yeah, I absolutely fucking hate the Scream movies, in case you can't tell). But in Horrible Bosses, the deconstruction works - by subverting the darker tone (and to some degree taking the piss out of it), it lightens the movie, remains consistent, while still allowing the plot to proceed along a pretty dark path. It's almost like Four Lions (an independently made British comedy film about Islamic homegrown terrorists - you have to see it to believe it), except where that movie stumbled hard by having no way to subvert the dark way a story like it had to end, this movie both manages to subvert it in a tongue-in-cheek way that is both clever and hilarious.

And here's something strange: this movie was produced by Brett Radner, and yet written and directed by three relative unknowns. This confirms one thing for me: Brett Radner is a horrible director, not a horrible producer, and that brightens my day a fair bit.

So yeah, this is a movie I expected to not like as much as I did, but considering it's probably one of the smartest comedies about stupid people I've seen in a long time, I was impressed. If you're looking for an easy way to blow an afternoon or evening, check it out.

 

I've been wanting to see this, but I was leery of being disappointed. So, I'm very glad that you reviewed this, Silens, as now I know that it's good. I'm not reading your entire review until I see it, though.

Also...so glad that Aniston is playing a different type of character, she is always cast as the same kind of gal.

 

Saw this opening night and loved it. I agree that Colin Farrell didn't get enough screen time, really my only complaint about the film. Also agree that this is the best I've seen of Jennifer Aniston.

I read in my local paper just before I saw that movie that the director change the way he shot the film because of how well Bateman, Sudeikis, and Charlie Day worked together. Apparently a lot of ad-libbing between the three.

 

A friend of mine watched this flick, and he said that he was disappointed with some of the movie. Apparently Farrell and Anniston are underused and don't contribute nearly as much as Spacey, though their characters were (according to him) the funniest and most interesting.

Also, hell yeah, these reviews are hella awesome.