Lacking supervision

Look at me finally getting a movie review done in a (relatively) timely manner. Although I'm just as likely to get recognition for my efforts as the three protagonists in Horrible Bosses. Played by Jason Bateman, Jason Sudekis, and Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), these three guys are having major problems with the titular superiors. Bateman's boss, played by Kevin Spacey, is a lying, manipulative psychopath. Sudekis struggles with his offensive, cokehead of a boss (plays by a nearly unrecognizable Colin Farrell). And Jennifer Aniston is causing havoc in Day's life by overtly sexually harrassing him (Oh, to have his problems).

The solution these guys come up with to deal with their problematic bosses is to murder them. Thanks to the help of Jamie Foxx (whose character name I can't even type here), they come up with a plan to off each other's boss, ala Throw Momma From the Train. This provides us with a number of stakeout/recon scenes that offer some awkward, yet funny moments.

It's a shame though that the film felt the need to rush us into this decision. The majority of the scenes meant to establish how horrible these guys' bosses can be seen in the film's trailers. While I didn't doubt that these guys were indeed terrible (Although again, how many people would complain about Aniston sexually harassing them, especially given how sexy she looked in this film). But there seemed to be a lot of untapped resources there in those scenes. Why not let these actors playing the bosses really let loose, especially since each of them seemed to be enjoying playing someone so nasty.

This remains a problem throughout the film. Everything stays one dimensional as we skip from one scene to the next as if there's some sort of plot checklist that needs to be accomplished with no regard to how deep we can explore the characters or their actions. By the time it reaches it's simplistic conclusion you keep expecting some additional wrinkle to be added, but it never comes. Before you know it, the credits are rolling, coupled with the blooper reel (always a trademark of a lazy comedy)

The actors are all good here. With maybe the exception of Charlie Day, who was a bit too loud and spastic here for my liking (and also, again, comes off a bit unsympathetic given his 'horrible' boss). I just wish each of them were given more. We get glimpses of their potential throughout the film. For instance, Bateman and Sudekis will start riffing on each other as they investigate one of their boss' houses, but just as things are starting to get good and funny we're already moving on to the next scene.

I wish the director Seth Gordon would have taken a page from someone like Judd Apatow and just let the camera keep rolling. And if he did and left a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor, then shame on him. If so, hopefully we can get a better 'extended' cut when it comes out on DVD. Otherwise, this will remain a solid comedy that failed to live up to its potential.

Perhaps I had too high of expectations coming in to the film. I'm sure there will be a lot of people that will really like this movie. I can certainly say that I laughed several times throughout it, but also felt like I should have been laughing more. Horrible Bosses is a film that seems to settle for middle management and never takes the opportunity to break through the glass ceiling. Grade: B-