Horrible Bosses

So, who hasn’t wanted to murder a boss of theirs at some point then? That’s the selling point behind Horrible Bosses as three friends (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) plan to knock off their superiors (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston) in order to make their lives easier. This isn’t Strangers On A Train though, but the new comedy from Seth Gordon. Yep, the Seth Gordon who made Four Christmases. That’ll probably be enough to put most people off going in the first place and, frankly, you will have made the right choice. This is another one of those films where, if you've seen the trailer, you’ve seen the film, or, at least, the best bits of the film. Actually, if there were Oscars awarded for the best trailer for a film then this would be right up there. The old problem emerges though that if you’ve seen the trailer and laughed at the jokes already you’re not going to be laughing too much during the actual film, especially in this case where all the other gags are either massively telegraphed or just plain unfunny. So, what went wrong here? This seems like another one of those films where the premise was agreed upon as a great idea and then a screenplay has been fitted as best it can around it. In fact, “seems” is probably too less a word as its fairly clear as the film lurches from one scene to the next that there isn’t much of a structure here. Of the three employees in the film Sudeikis gives the best performance, though he looks in danger of just becoming (in Europe anyway) “that guy from that other film”. Bateman plays it straight and dry which is only mildly successful, whilst Day hypers it up to such an extreme level his voice goes beyond Bobcat Goldthwait at times. I was amazed not to find 200 cats outside the cinema when I left such is the pitch of Day’s voice at times. To be fair to the three, it’s clear that most scenes are improvised and they all do a decent job riffing off each other and get the best out of their roles when compared to the bosses. Spacey phones it in playing a slime ball, Farrell is great as Sudeikis’ weaselly boss, but is criminally underwritten, whilst its Aniston’s part that has garnered the most headlines. In brunette wig, wearing skimpy clothes and armed with the foulest mouth this side of a docker dropping a crate on his foot, she’s clearly having a blast playing against type. However, her sexual bullying of Day is meant to be funny, but it will actually have you squirming awkwardly in your seat. If the roles had been rehearsed (i.e. man harassing woman) such a character would have never made it off the page. All in all, if you haven’t seen the trailer, you may get a few laughs, but there’s just the nagging doubt that this could have been so much better.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

A few good performances, but nothing can compensate for the terrible screenplay. Rating: 4/10