They’re baaack...and she’s at it again.
They would be Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day, a trio of funnies that hit it big when they played these bumbling buffoons trying to get even with their Horrible Bosses (Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey among them) in 2011 (you know...by killing ’em). And she would be L’Aniston herself, a survivor of the sleeper original black comedy who – thank goodness! – lived to see another day as a horny D.D.S. from hell who still very much would like nothing more than to get into Day’s character’s pants.
They all have reprised their roles for Horrible Bosses 2, a just-alright follow-up to a quite-original and energetic raunchfest.
This time, though, the trio’s characters – Nick, Kurt, and Dale – find themselves in a position of power, in a place where they can behave in deplorable ways. Not that they weren’t in the first movie; murder is not cool, kids. And not that they would (to their employees), anyway.
Directed by Sean (Sex Drive) Anders, who took over for Seth Gordon, the sequel sees them kinda-pathetically trying to make it on their own, as their own bosses, as the inventors of a novelty attachment for the shower called the Shower Buddy (think of the mechanics of a carwash...but for the bathroom!). They are so gung-ho about succeeding that they forget that they are, essentially, a bunch of dummies, and they fall for the too-good-to-be-true offer they get from a wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing investor portrayed by two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz. Handsoming up things is Chris Pine, who steps into the role of Waltz’s spoiled son, Rex, a rotten man-child in a good suit who desperately wants to impress his careless dada.
Once Nick, Kurt, and Dale realize they’ve been tricked into an unforeseen ruin, they decide to reassemble as this makeshift comeuppance crew and get even with Waltz’s character by kidnapping Rex and holding him for ransom. Just so they don’t go bankrupt and s---.
Things don’t go as planned, though; this, in spite, of the trio having ironed out their plan with their crime consultant, Motherf---er Jones (an also-returning Jamie Foxx), and NicKurtDale – say it three times fast (this is one of the funnier, wrongest jokes in the movie) – soon are saddled with a Rex who wants in on their plan.
Which, of course, spells out doom for them. ’Cause he is hella unhinged.
Horrible Bosses 2 is more of the same, I’m afraid. And while it can be a hoot to watch, I did wish they’d left well enough alone. I mean, yeah, the movie is lots of Bateman serving up that deadpanned frustration he does so incredibly well. It's Sudeikis being a not-so-smart smart aleck, and Day being a frenzy ball of emotion.
And, once again, it’s a great showcase of Aniston’s underappreciated comedic knack; gf can get fan-f---in'-tastically nasty...and I likey.
But, ultimately, you can't help but feel that the money the powers that be spent on Horrible Bosses 2 could have been better spent in something more creative.
Would I welcome a Horrible Bosses 3? Sure, if it must come to that, and it just might. But I will expect a fresher take on things.
My Rating **1/2
Photo: Warner Bros.
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