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Horrible Bosses: Saturday night at the movies, Nottingham Cineworld screen 4 was packed and Mrs W and I were in need of a good giggle. I’d been informed by very reliable sources that we would be fulfilled by this film. Sadly, we were not. And, even more surprisingly, considering this film’s hype, neither was the audience.
By that, I mean, however duff a comedy might be, there is always someone at the back, particularly on a Saturday night, who is laughing manically. Not that night. There were a few chortles here and there but Horrible Bosses just didn’t find our collective funny bones.
One of the reasons has to be the trailer.. I know, anyone who is regular everyfilm blog reader will now be thinking… why don’t you just stop watching the trailers if they ruin so many movies? You’re right. I used to close my eyes through them, but feared I either looked like an uber-nerd or someone might call the staff, thinking I was a tramp looking for somewhere to have a good kip. However, I am willing to take the chance again. Simply because I had seen every good gag in Horrible Bosses at least 20 times before.
What I would say about Seth Gordon‘s film is that there are elements of the script which are quite clever. The plot lines fall together well but it just isn’t funny enough. And that’s a little surprising, considering the line-up of its cast.
So, what’s the story? Three friends are being so harassed by their bosses they decide they want to kill them. It’s never satisfactorily explained why they can’t just move jobs rather than resorting to murder but that is by the by. Anyway, Jason Bateman plays the ambitious office worker whose life is made a misery by Kevin Spacey, the world of Jason Sudeikis falls apart when his boss dies and his coke-addict son Colin Farrell takes over and Charlie Day is being sexually harassed by Jennifer Aniston (yes, I know…). What a cast. How could it fail?
Well, surprisingly, Bateman and Sudeikis, normally so reliable are just flat and Day’s high-pitch screeching is just annoying. Thus, I was batting for the bosses (why won’t the staff where I work be surprised at this?). Spacey is gloriously nasty, Farrell is something of a revelation and Aniston has never been more sexy (I mean what in the name of zog would she see in Charlie Day?).
But the end game was the laughometer was required once.. and that was a very poor return.
Horrible Bosses isn’t terrible but is nowhere near as good as it should be and, therefore, only gets 5/10.
Check out: everyfilmin2011.blogspot.com
Cert: 
Running time: 98 minutes
Year: 2011
Released: July 22nd 2011
Widescreen: 2.35:1
Rating: 5/10
Director: Seth Gordon
Producers: Brett Ratner and Jay Stern
Screenplay: Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
Music: Christopher Lennertz
Cast :
Kenny Sommerfeld: PJ Byrne
Dave Harken: Kevin Spacey
Bobby Pellitt: Colin Farrell
Thomas, Head of Security: Steve Wiebe
Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S.: Jennifer Aniston
Nick Hendricks: Jason Bateman
Dale Arbus: Charlie Day
Stacy: Lindsay Sloane
Kurt Buckman: Jason Sudeikis
Jack Pellit: Donald Sutherland
Wetwork Man: Ioan Gruffudd
Dean ‘MF’ Jones: Jamie Foxx