Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis in "Horrible
Bosses"; photo courtesy of Warner Brothers

 “Horrible Bosses” (Warner Brothers)
Raunchy Doesn’t Always Mean Funny

In the new movie “Horrible Bosses” the four letter words fly fast and furiously while the sexual situations pile up one right after the other. By these criteria “Bosses” should be as enjoyable as some found “The Hangover.” But raunchy does not always mean funny and though there are intermittent moments in “Bosses” where you will laugh out loud there are also long stretches where you won’t.

The movie centers around three friends, Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis). All three have horrible bosses. Nick is stuck with Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey); Dale with Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston); and Kurt with Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell). They are all so miserable in their jobs that they decide to hire someone to kill their bosses. Now this is where the movie first breaks down. We can accept the guys are miserable, but resort to murder – no.

They do attempt to hire a hit man and after a miserable failure in confused advertising they end up with Dean Jones (Jamie Foxx). They also learn that Dave Harken is allergic to peanuts, Bobby Pellitt is a cokehead and Julia Harris is even more of a sexual predator than they first believed. These are facts they think can be used in their demise.

All of the efforts and misfires to try to kill or have their bosses make up the plot of the movie. The actors really get into their roles with Bateman coming off as the sanest member of the three friends. Day goes over the top and gets a little shrill while Sudeikis has moments where he is the most stupid of the group. Spacey is totally believable as the domineering boss. He seems to relish being nasty. Farrell gets into his role and makes Bobby a controlling slob. Aniston exudes sexiness as the foul-mouthed woman who has her eyes set on Day’s character.

The movie is rated R for profanity and sexual situations.

The movie starts at point A where the guys are being harassed and mistreated and slowly makes its way to point Z where things are resolved. Along the way there are genuinely funny occurrences and actions, but too much of it is just too over the top to be believed. A story such as this one does not have to be totally realistic but there should be some semblance of reality.

There is some fun to be found in “Horrible Bosses” but it is not the laugh getting, side splitting comedy we have been led to believe it would be. If you go expecting another “Hangover” or even another “Bridesmaids” then you are going to be disappointed.

I scored “Horrible Bosses” a fired 5 out of 10.