Horrible Bosses Cinema Review

By Stephanie Sowden

Horrible Bosses is not only laugh-out-loud hilarious, but also surprising and tense in equal measure.  The trailer does not do it justice by any stretch, and picks out only the easiest jokes to showcase.  In full, the film is much cleverer than the 30 second adverts make out.

The basic premise is over the top and unrealistic, which adds to the beauty of the whole film, as the distinctly ordinary protaganists try to deal with drugs, hit-men and car chases.  Three normal guys get tired of their bosses constant berating and plot to have them killed.  This is the first (and one of very few) flaws in the film; only Nick’s (Jason Bateman) supervisor Harken (Kevin Spacey) really gets enough screen time for the audience to totally sympathise with murderous intent.

Most men would probably feel little sympathy for Dale (Charlie Day) who is constantly fighting off his sex-crazed boss Julia, played by Jennifer Anniston.  But Day’s performance of a man who’s childhood dream is ‘to be a husband’ is both endearing, believable and utterly fantastic.  He is without a doubt, the breakout star of this film.  It’s also refreshing to see Anniston lose her inhibitions and embrace Julia’s crudeness; her roles rarely require this kind of swearing and hard sex-talk.  Having said that, Julia is shown doing little else in the film, and so it’s not exactly stretching for Aniston’s comedic performance.  Similarly, Pellit (Colin Farrell) is barely on the screen, which is a shame because most of his jokes are shown in the trailer.

There’s little else to criticise as all the performances are brilliant, and the writing is constantly witty, intelligent and unpredictable.  The ridiculous story ark allows for simple jokes to be freshly funny, as they’re out of place and unexpected in this crazy murderous world. 

The only real thing to say about this film, like Bridesmaids before it, is: go see it.