By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I remember starting to watch the original Horrible Bosses (2011) on regular TV a little over a year ago. Though much was cut out, it was hilarious so I purchased it off Amazon Streaming. Shortly thereafter, I heard that a sequel was coming out. At first, I was excited. Despite enjoying chick flicks and many teenybopper movies, my favorite style of comedy and action are those which focus on a strong male bond. Before everyone begins to call me sexist, let me say I also like movies where female friendships are comedicaly and realistically explored, but those are rare. Typically, we get gross out humor, faux-feminism and cat fights for the male audience. For every great production like 9 to 5 (1980), Outrageous Fortune (1987) and Ass Backwards (2013) there are twenty movies like The Sweetest Thing (2002) and Bride Wars (2009) which blemish the sub-genre entirely.
Filmmakers typically understand the male dynamic more than the female dynamic and therefore they are able to create fantastic and fun productions like The A-Team (2010), The Hangover (2009), See No Evil Hear No Evil (1989), The Odd Couple (1968), Bad Boys (1995), Hot Fuzz (2007) – the list literally goes on and on.
The original Horrible Bosses fit this mold perfectly. A group of white-collar guys who all hate their bosses decide to kill them, yet haven’t a clue about how to get the job done and comedy ensues.
This in many ways fits the same mold. Here our three stars Nick (Jason Batmen), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) invent a new shower nozzle that dispenses shampoo and body wash diminishing the time needed to take a shower. Immediately, a bigwig who owns the largest shower supply company in the country, Bert Hanson (Christoph Waltz) and his son Rex Hanson (Chris Pine) order 100,000 units and help them obtain a business loan. Once the loan goes through and the units are finished they go to tell Bert the good news. Bert then delivers his real plan which is to cancel the order, ensure they go bankrupt and steal their idea renaming it Shower Pal and making it for less in China.
Not knowing what to do, they return to their factory and start throwing out ideas. Murder comes up but is quickly squashed since the last time they were so unsuccessful. They then decide to kidnap Rex and hold him for ransom.
Once inside Rex’s house they decide to give up, but when Rex figures out their plan, he wants in. He’s angry at his father and opts to help them stage the kidnapping, but rather than ask for 500K he changes it to 5 million and advises that 4 mil goes to him.
Comedy ensues as they do absolutely everything wrong that can be done wrong. The jokes are funny and the plot is solid. The characters are fun and the acting is fantastic. With a supporting cast like Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Jonathan Banks, and the amazing Kevin Spacey, one can’t go wrong. The conclusion is fitting and expected but still well-done.
Overall, though not as good as the original, it certainly was worth the watch. The end credits with the bloopers are also hilarious.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
