Movie Review: Horrible Bosses

While most of the core 6 actors and actresses that made up the cast of Friends have faded away into virtual obscurity since the show ended (Leblanc, Schwimmer? Where are you?), Jennifer Aniston has seemed to stay relevant and continues to deliver good performances on the big screen. Aniston's most raunchy and bold role is that of Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. in Horrible Bosses, a black comedy that delivers some good laughs despite an all-over-the-place plot.

The aforementioned plot in a nutshell is that three average joes (played by Jason Sudekis, Jason Bateman and Charlie Day) find themselves in no-win situations with their supervisors at three different places of employment. The bosses (Aniston, Kevin Spacey and a throwaway waste of Colin Farrell) needles their employees until said employees actually decide to put a plan together in an effort to have the bosses killed. Of course things don't go as planned and a wild and usually impractical series of events ensues. I found myself not really buying into anything that went on but the acting from the major players was spot on and fueled a lot of the jokes that worked.

In particular, Aniston steals the show as she practically tries to rape Charlie Day's character on several occasions. Using language that is the polar opposite of what you would hear come out of Rachel Green's mouth on Friends, she owns every scene she's in. Bateman plays the same role he's been playing since Arrested Development (thanks Omar) and Sudeikis still muddles along thinking he's a leading comic actor when in reality he's best at dancing in the background of the "What's up with That!?" SNL sketches. Day is pretty good overall (keep in mind I've never seen him in Sunny in Philadelphia) but Spacey is a bit too intense and way over-the-top at times. Colin Farrell sports a weird comb-over faux balding look and he just seems to be completely miscast in this movie. With the exception of In Brugges he should just stick to action films. We get a welcome guest appearance by Jaime Foxx as a hired hitman named Motherfucker Jones. His name alone is good for some of the best laughs in the film.

So this movie is really a mixed bag from start to finish. Not nearly as funny as Bridesmaids or The Hangover II. I just couldn't believe that a straight male character in a movie would be disgusted by having Jennifer Aniston attempt to sexually harass them. I'd advise for you to wait for rental on this one. A mixed 3 out of 5 JR's for Horrible Bosses.