“Here’s another one of those strange “”I don’t know if I liked it”” situations. Seems to be coming up quite a bit. I didn’t find most of the jokes funny, and some of the absurdity of the plot was a bit much to handle, but I loved the characters (and actors) and I always had to know what was going to happen next. I think that’s how I felt the first time around with Horrible Bosses too.
I will give them points for how they set up the sequel, since at first glance it doesn’t seem sequel-able. In the original film, friends Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), Nick (Jason Bateman), and Dale (Charlie Day) each had soul sucking jobs at three different companies and out of frustration planned to kill the horrible bosses that they work for. In the sequel, our hapless heroes (?) are now their own horrible bosses, trying to run a small business and getting in over their heads with a horrible investor (Christoph Waltz) and his son (Chris pine). So besides some appearances from the original bosses (Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston) sort of shoe horned into this story, we’re just picking up later with our same characters and we have a different meaning to the title. That works.
They’re just a fun group of guys to watch, and our three leads have a very clear rapport and chemistry. Teaming up a bit with Pine playfully shook up the dynamic and gave us a new side to this generally more serious actor. It was also a treat to see 2 time Oscar winner and Tarantino collaborator Waltz play up being bad and also be silly at the same time.
Some bits didn’t work. Some was too over the top. But every single one of those guys sold it, at least tricking you into thinking you were having a good time. Will this be a lifetime classic? Probably not. Was it a fun couple hours at the movies? Eh, sure. Why not.
Horrible Bosses 2 – \m/ \m/ \m/”