'Bosses' Horribly Misleading

The comedy “Horrible Bosses” can quite aptly be described by the first word in its title: “Horrible.”

Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx and even Colin Farell all smashed together in a lewd summer comedy would seem to imply a real gut-buster. However, this black comedy, directed by Seth Gordon, just couldn’t deliver.

For the first twenty minutes of the movie, the background stories of the main characters’ abusive professional situations are fleshed out. Each of the outlandishly vile bosses exemplifies their tempestuous behaviors, and viewers feel sympathy for the downtrodden employees.

Simultaneously, they wonder when all the hilarity will commence. Unfortunately, no such luck exists.

Aniston’s invasively sexual advances, Spacey’s obtusely rude comments and Farell’s pervasive drug habits all present sufficient fodder for genuine laughter, but manage to fall depressingly short.

Eccentric one-liners from Charlie Day’s character, Dale, and brazen comments from Jason Bateman’s character, Nick, are peppered throughout the plot. Unfortunately, though, neither one of these type-casted actors live up to even their own standard humor.

Foxx’s smooth and witty gangster persona, “Mother Fucker Jones” offers the most entertainment.

What isn’t stunted by shoddy character development is waylaid even further by a poorly created story. This film limps down a plot line that feels like it was derived from a book akin to “Screen Writing For Dummies.”

Don’t be fooled by the tantalizing shenanigans portrayed on the previews because those snippets are all this flick has to offer. The befuddled main characters spend 90 minutes tooling around their employers’ residencies being startled by cats, tampering with personal possessions and, of course, leaving behind compromising evidence.
“Horrible Bosses” suffers from a severe identity crisis and lacks any original glimmer.

By Rachel Hanley