"“Surely set to be one of, if not the, funniest film of the year…”"

I think it’s fair to say we’ve all worked under tiresome bosses. The sort that make you work just that five minutes longer than you were supposed to, or the sort that tell you to tuck your shirt in like you’re back at school. It’s a common perception to find your boss exasperating, an issue explored greatly in Seth Gordan’s Horrible Bosses, although in this case, the word horrible, is horribly understating.

We follow three characters, all fed up with work and their bosses, who are seemingly desperate to make life as difficult and dreadful as humanly possible. Nick (Jason Bateman) works under the appalling dictatorship of Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), a spiteful and unpleasant individual, who despite signalling towards a promotion for Nick for a long period of time, simply ended up promoting himself to two jobs.

After Nick comes his good friend Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), working at a Chemical organisation, run by Jack Pellit (Donald Sutherland). When Jack passes and his son Bobby (Colin Farrell) takes over the helm, things start to get rather nasty, as the cocaine-addicted, dense idiot foresees an idea of sacking the fat people who work for the company whilst wishing to dispose of dangerous chemicals into Bolivia, potentially at the risk of many people’s lives.

And then lastly we have Dale (Charlie Day) who, despite being happily engaged, has to battle against his nymphomaniac boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), as the dental surgeon desperately attempts to seduce her employee, combining sex appeal with downright compulsion to tempt her victim.

Therefore, as the bosses continue to inflict trouble and despair on their employees’ lives, the leading protagonists devise a cunning plan: to kill them all. And this is where the film really starts.

As the film sets itself up wonderfully for a dramatic and enjoyable conclusion, no-one could envisage the hitches and escapades that the characters must face in order to undertake such a dangerous task, despite using the help of previous criminal, Dean “Muthafucker” Jones, played amusingly by Jamie Foxx.

Horrible Bosses is a wonderful film, hilarious from start to the end. From the extraordinary scenarios the characters find themselves in, to the wonderful dialogue between the three lead roles, it’s surely set to be one of, if not the, funniest film of the year. Comparable to The Hangover series, it simply follows three men on a supposedly simple mission that just refuses to work as initially intended.

The performances are strong, particularly that of both Bateman and Spacey, and their conflicting relationship. Bateman has a knack of becoming a character you instantly warm to before eventually pitying. He seems to play the victim of circumstance terribly well, a trait that follows him back to his Arrested Development days.

As for Spacey, he plays the part of Harken with that eeriness he has managed to perfect over the course of his successful career. He has a wonderful ability to play someone that can fool other characters, as well as the audience, into thinking he is a respectable man, before his sadistic personality unravels in front of your eyes.

Other performances are also strong, including that of Aniston, playing a rather raunchy role by her standards, and adapting well. In fact I had to question whether I liked this film so much because it was funny or because of her outfits, if you can go as far as calling them that.
My only qualm was that perhaps it went on slightly too long and became somewhat inane in parts as the feature approached its conclusion, but having said that, the film’s clumsiness and idiocy also proves to be a positive aspect overall.

Aside from this, Horrible Bosses is a thoroughly enjoyable feature, but that’s what you get when you merge the winning combination of strong, comical performances with a solid, witty script, ultimately making for a hilarious and pleasing movie, and one certainly worth seeing.