Horrible Bosses post-release discussion

Awesome can't wait to see it.

Awesome! Any performance that really stands out?

Fuck yeah. Can't wait.

Does Spacey tell anybody to go to lunch?

Really? Well shit. Awesome!

It's very nearly as much of a remake of the Hangover (beat-wise) as The Hangover II, but so much infinitely funnier.

Wow, Jennifer Aniston managed to fumble her way into another good movie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata 

Don't want to overhype but to me this is the best mainstream comedy in a decade. I absolutely love it. I loved The Hangover. This destroys The Hangover.

That's you not overhyping it? Did your original reaction claim it cured dick cancer?

Hopefully so, it looked good but I worried it would be safe and punchless. And cureless.

Just saw the TV spot with "An Instant Classic!" - Nick Nunziata, CHUD.com pull quote.

I'm leery of overselling this because it does have flaws and slow spots and I would hate for someone to go on in arms-folded in "Show me!" mode, but it's very good.

I would say the highs it hits are perhaps better than any mainstream comedy I've seen for a while, but it's not rollicking non-stop gut laughs all the way through. Every actor brings their A-game, but it's a little undercut by mechanical editing/pacing where every scene seems to go on for awhile, just end, and then mediocre rock/funk scoring takes us to the next scene. Repeat for 90 minutes.

That said, I loved it, warts and all.

Yeah, I think that the people that were let down by the Hangover 2 (everybody) will find relief here. Some very funny stuff. All three leads are great. Some of the complaints seem to come from wanting the movie to go to darker places. And I can understand that. But I was too busy laughing to really care. Some great, offbeat stuff in this.

If I was caught pirating Snow Falling on Cedars too, I'd deserve to go to prison.

This was a lot of fun, and I might be biased because he's my third favorite actor ever, but Kevin Spacey was the stand-out. His absolutely LIVID reaction to the surprise party was hysterical.

I give Aniston a ton of credit for what she does here, going way outside her comfort zone. Her back-and-forth scenes with Charlie were dynamite stuff.

And I love the guy, but Colin Farrell's accent was breaking through EVERY sentence. It's like he wasn't trying, but he was still a hoot in his little screen time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontEATnachos 

Just saw the TV spot with "An Instant Classic!" - Nick Nunziata, CHUD.com pull quote.

Just saw that spot and came on here to see if anyone else had. Well done, Nick!

Thanks to this and many other glowing reviews I am beyond hyped to see the late show tonight!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farsight 

 

That's you not overhyping it? Did your original reaction claim it cured dick cancer?

 

Hopefully so, it looked good but I worried it would be safe and punchless. And cureless.

I saw nothing in the trailer to picque my interest either.  That Nick abandons his usual writing style to fish for pull quotes in his review just looks like a red flag to me.  I'll pass, thanks.

I'll take your word for it.  I came across more shittily than intended, and I apologize for that. 

Jason Sudekis and Jason Bateman may not get their due because of everybody else's memorable stuff, but goddamnit they were absolute all-stars in this.  Their "quality throwaway line" workrate in this was off the charts.

This was just a competent comedy, elevated by some nice but not brilliant (and a little gimmicky) casting. It's definitely no classic, especially when you put it next to Bridesmaids, and is really constrained by the spec script-y flavor of it all. But it's a nice little movie and I hope it does a heck of a lot better than The Zookeeper this weekend.

But my God, the scene where they miss the Spacey confession is brilliant.

Sorry guys, this really wasn't that good. Not sure what you were smoking when you saw it. A couple of laughs here and there but a pretty piss poor comedy overall.

Bridesmaids still leads as best comedy of the year, but I don't feel the need to compare them all, even though I just did it. Horrible Bosses is a highly enjoyable comedy, despite Brett Ratner having anything to do with it.

Anyway, here's a bit of movie nerdiness I figured out. Every lead has a connection to another. Really trivial, but it's interesting.

Charlie Day > Going the Distance > Jason Sudeikis > The Bounty Hunter > Jennifer Aniston > The Switch > Jason Bateman > The Kingdom > Jamie Foxx > Miami Vice > Colin Farrell > Ordinary Decent Criminal > Kevin Spacey

Originally Posted by Sean Blackwell 

Jason Sudekis and Jason Bateman may not get their due because of everybody else's memorable stuff, but goddamnit they were absolute all-stars in this.  Their "quality throwaway line" workrate in this was off the charts.

Agree 100%.  The cast is most certainly the film's strong suit, and I thought Bateman and Sudekis were standouts.  Didn't really care for Farrell though, at all.  Foxx surprised me with how funny he was.  Liked him much more than I expected to.  The first meeting with Jones was a high point for me.  Also enjoyed the "wetwork" scene.  It felt as if things picked up a little there concerning how funny it was, and for the most part, remained somewhat consistent throughout the rest of the movie.
 

I thought this was stunningly average. Scattered laughs here and there, with huge deadspots throughout. Farrell's the most entertaining character, and he gets the short end of the stick. Pretty much everyone else is fine - if uninspired - except for Sudeikis, who's pretty weak.

I honestly laughed at this flick about as much as Hangover 2. I guess it's better, because it's not a hacky copy-job, but not by much. Bridesmaids blows this completely out of the water, and Bad Teacher - which is certainly inconsistent - at least takes some interesting chances and occasionally scores big. This film is just bland comedy filler; fine for killing 90 mins, but instantly forgettable.    

It's cute, and I chuckled a lot, but that's about it.  Bridesmaids is considerably better.

Aniston grated me.  Not her fault, but the character is completely one note.  There's one single joke, and they just keep repeating it over and over and over again.

Pretty lightweight, but enjoyable.  Charlie and the Jasons were very funny.  Spacey was in Buddy Ackerman awesomeness mode.  It was great seeing Jennifer Anniston in really dirty mode.  If she did that more often I may actually like to see her in a movie.  Farrell, eh, he was alright.  The firing scene was funny, but it seems like he got short changed.  Foxx also was a lot of fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata 

The choice of film he was pirating absolutely destroyed me.

That was probably my favorite moment despite the fact that your post had me anticipating it.  The film in question was one that my friend (who I saw the movie with) used to really like, so we got an extra kick out of that bit of randomness.

But otherwise, I'd have to say the movie felt pretty average.  It's one I wish had pushed a little harder.  Despite its vulgarity, it felt too safe.  Disappointed that Farrell's material was obviously cut short.  He was barely in the movie.

I thought it was really funny (my date found it considerably funnier), but I think it really lost inertia in the last 25-30min or so, which was a problem, I loved the three leads (I haven't watched SNL in years so I've never seen Sudeikis in anything, but I'm a fan now, same for Charlie Day) and the bosses, and Foxx, pretty much everyone; everybody was game.

Though I like that it went dark with the murder of Bobby Pellitt (who I wished we'd seen more of), and of course Spacey is going to be the guy who takes it there in another seemingly effortless performance as a four star asshole.

Count me as someone else that thought this was pretty average.  I think it says something when you have such a great cast and Jennifer Aniston is the highlight of the movie (at least she was at the showing I went to today).

I think most of my issues are due to the script.  The movie is titled "Horrible Bosses," but the bosses are barely in the movie (especially Farrell's character).  While the trio's motivations for murdering their bosses are clearly explained, their motivations come off as kind of weak.  Bateman's character's deciding factor to kill his boss is due to him not allowing Bateman to leave work early to visit his ill grandmother?  Yeah, that kind of sucks, but I don't think it fits in with his character at all.

There's also not much development of the characters in the movie.  Each of the three main characters have only one distinguishable characteristic.  Bateman wants a promotion, Sudeikis is a really horny guy that can't control his penis, and Charlie Day is really excited to be married.

I'll give the movie points for keeping me entertained and chuckling at points throughout run time, but I don't think it stands up to "Swimming With Sharks" or even "Throw Mama From the Train" (let alone "Strangers on a Train").  I think it would have worked more for me if the bosses would have been in the movie more, and there would have been more opportunities to show how horrible they were.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chet Ripley 

Count me as someone else that thought this was pretty average.  I think it says something when you have such a great cast and Jennifer Aniston is the highlight of the movie (at least she was at the showing I went to today).

At least she was at the showing you went to today? Because they show different versions of the flick at different times?

I WISH!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Matchstick 

At least she was at the showing you went to today? Because they show different versions of the flick at different times?

 

I WISH!

I was implying that the audience laughed the most when her character was onscreen.  I'm guessing this wasn't the same experience for everyone else.  Thanks for the snark though.

Charlie Day's line reading of "Why did you put his entire bathroom up your ass?" is probably the biggest laugh for me.  He was the film's MVP, I thought.  His manic screeching worked great up against his two lower-key co-stars.

It wraps up a little too neatly at the end, but I enjoyed this quite a bit. 

Yeah I liked it alot. Wish there was more of Aniston and Farrell outside of that I thought it was just under Bridesmaids for Comedy of the year.

A welcome addition to the summer.

God help me, I think my favorite comedy of the year is still Paul.

I'd be pretty confident in saying that Bridesmaids is my favorite comedy of the year (unless I'm forgetting something), but not because of the comedy.  If that makes any sense.

My wife and I both laughed hard throughout.  Jones' explanation of how he got his name nearly killed me.  Sudeikis had a throwaway "Great Gatsby" line that was amazing.  I thought it was a whole lot of fun and would certainly put it up there with Bridesmaids.

This movie wins the year for Best Potential Spin-off:   a Ron White/Wendell Pierce buddy cop comedy.  

The comedy to beat this year. Enjoyed the fuck out of it.

It might not be a better 'movie' than Bridesmaids, in terms of character and drama and emotion and all that storytelling crap, but damn if it wasn't just flat out funnier. So many good lines, it felt like watching three old friends hashing it out. Excellent delivery and reactions from the three leads. I like how Spacey played an even more heightened version of his character from Swimming With Sharks. Loved the shit out of this movie; comedy to beat this year.

And Steve Wiebe! Yes!

Saw it tonight...fucking hilarious. I loved that they brought over the L&O stuff from "It's Always Sunny..." for Dale.

And yeah a shame that Farrell got short changed but what was there was brilliant. Him jumping into view playing with Nunchucks was maybe my favorite thing he did.

Aniston and Julie Bowen for that matter were both smokin'. And I loved the little bit with Newhart at the end.

I'd put it more in the 'good but not great' category.  There was just something that felt a bit off to me.

While Bowen felt wasted in her tiny role to me, Spacey and the other bosses were pretty great.  I found the whole 'Gregory' thing was a bit disappointing.

In the end, I think I'm placing my late summer comedic hopes on 30 Minutes or Less.

Mr. Fantastic as Wetwork Man was as funny as the movie got. Which was pretty funny, just wish there was more of that. No one was bad, they just felt under served in the presentation. Movie felt choppy/unfocused.

Funny movie, but never hit me with a belly laugh.

The three leads have great chemistry together, and I could buy that they had been friends since high school. The horrible bosses, as well, are obviously having fun (especially Spacey) chewing up the scenery. Unfortunately being that evil lends little to characterization. Exactly why would Anniston be so hot for Charlie Day, unless she was turned on by the idea of him being a sex offender?

Early on I leaned over and said something to my girlfriend like, "Jennifer Anniston is not nearly as evil as the other two" and she turned to me and replied, "Yeah, but you wouldn't say that if she was a man sexual harrassing a woman." Good point, and although the movie itself acknowledges that Charlie's situation, on the surface, isn't so bad, punches are pulled with Anniston's character. Not only does she not end up dead or in jail, but her only real punishment is having to pay for Charlie's honeymoon. Not much comeupance.

Also, Jason Sudeikis didn't come across as enough of a pushover to resent his boss enough to resort to such drastic measures. As well, if the bosses were treating their entire staff so horribly, what would keep everyone from getting together and contacting the ACLU?

Still, I laughed consistently. Getting a bit tired, however, of Jason Bateman playing the same walked-all-over-approaching-middle-age-white-guy, what happened to the wiseass from Dodgeball?

I'm coming across as a bit too negative. The recon segment of the film was almost brilliant and hinted at the plot points converging in a really clever way. That never materalized. I kept thinking that when they were being chased by Spacey they were leading him to Jennifer Anniston's house so...something could happen. I don't know, the end felt too loose.

Took the wife to see it this weekend and was amused but didn't really laugh out loud until the final line.

Didn't really go far enough for me.  I enjoyed the three leads and it was clever enough, but did'nt really make me laugh in the same way that Bridesmaids did.

Really enjoyed this, Farrell, Spacey and Aniston were just great,  but I think it could have been even better. Why not actually show Aniston nudity? I bet it would have been an even bigger effect than appearing nude in Wanderlust, which probably no one will see. Also, it could have been a bit riskier, darker. With a bit more bravery, it could have been something like Fargo or Burn After Reading. It's funny, but light and I'm afraid, a bit forgettable.

Still, probably the best Aniston has ever done and further proof Colin Farrell is one of the best guys working today. I just recently saw him in The Way Back, In Bruges and this, he's just great. Also, a great guy.

I was set to enjoy this, but in the end walked away greatly disappointed. The only highlights were for me Farrell and Spacey, and they were not in the movie nearly enough. Instead the focus was on our hapless trio, rather than their day to day work for their horrible bosses. I was expecting SWIMMING WITH SHARKS redux, and it let me down. Jamie Foxx was great, a few of the characters that float in and our of the story are interesting, but overall I found the movie was sunk by it's leads. They're supposed to be life long friends, but appeared as if they could barely tolerate being in each other's company. I'm not sure if that was the cast not clicking, or the way things were supposed to play, but generally it just turned me off. I kind of hated all three of the main characters, they felt under defined, and kind of pathetic

That brings me to Charlie Day. He must be one of the worst screen actors I've seen in a big budget comedy. He has no screen presence, he simply melts away in front of the camera. He struggled to deliver even simple lines in a believable way, and I generally found him to be utterly loathsome

Jason Sudakis fared better, but didn't particularly stand out

Jason Bateman appeared to be struggling to figure out why he was there, and what he saw in the character that made him sign on to the project

When Farrell died, after having barely appeared in two scenes, I kind of threw up my hands. They'd just killed off one of the best things the movie had going for it, and I knew it wasn't going to get much better from there on out. This movie had potential, and I know some here really enjoyed it, but for me at least it failed to satisfy

PS Speaking of things that didn't work, I'd add to that list anything to do with Aniston's character. Her scenes fell flat as a flapjack. I am in a state of continued bafflement at the longevity of her career

SUGGESTION: In keeping with SWIMMING WITH SHARKS, Michelle Forbes would have been ideal casting for Charlie Day's boss, IMHO. I think she could have made those scenes much funnier and darker than they were

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata 

You couldn't be more wrong! It's great!

I'll give it another look in a few months, see if my thoughts change. I was a bit under the weather when I saw it so that could be a factor. Some moments and scenes were definitely fun, just over all it didn't work (for me). I loved a few of the bits though. The cocaine clean up, ETC