A friend recommended this film to me, enthusiastically telling me that it was so funny that I would love it and so on and so forth. I eventually got around to watching it when it came on tv one night.
This film tells of three men and their bosses. Nick Hendricks (played by Jason Bateman) works for Dave Harken (played by Kevin Spacey). Dave has impossible standards including expecting Nick to be in at work early before sunrise and staying late. When Nick "fails" the standards Dave calls Nick out on his "failings". Further Dave takes away Nick's promotion and then blackmails Nick when Nick threatens to leave.
Dale Arbus (played by Charlie Day) has trouble fending off the sexual advances of his boss Dr. Julia Harris (played by Jennifer Aniston). He can't leave his work despite the daily sexual harassment because he is a registered sex offender as a result of peeing in a playground late one night. To make things more unpleasant for Dale, Julia threatens to send compromising pictures to Dale's fiancee Stacy (played by Lindsay Sloane).
Kurt Buckman (played by Jason Sudeikis) happens to love his boss Jack Pellit (played by Donald Sutherland). Jack is a great boss who seems to sincerely care about each and every one of his employees. He also happens to be an ethical and successful businessman. Everything changes for Kurt and his coworkers when Jack dies and Jack's coked up jerky son Bobby Pellit (played by Colin Farrell) takes over the company. Bobby is a very self-centered, pompous idiot who goes so far as to demand that Kurt fire every fat, ugly, or disabled person immediately because he doesn't like them. When Kurt refuses, Bobby then orders Kurt to fire either his pregnant coworker or disabled coworker or Kurt will be fired along with the other two that Bobby wants fired.
Each of the three friends are fairly aware of each guy's respective struggle with each respective boss because they hang out after work. One night they decide that they should have their bosses killed. They try to hire a "hitman" named Dean "MF" Jones (played by Jamie Foxx). The "hitman" turns out to be a murder consultant who advises them on how they can accomplish their goals of having their bosses killed. He specifically suggests that each guy eliminate a boss that isn't theirs so that the cops can't trace the murders back.
Funny complications arise with unexpected results that neatly tie up the film. There were some funny parts and some not funny parts. The three "horrible bosses" all stole the scenes that they were in. It was great to see Jennifer Aniston step away from the usual "good girl" that she is good at playing. Kevin Spacey is always entertaining to watch in my opinion (even though he scares the mess out of me usually). Colin Farrell was so funny as the almost over the top jerk. He did a good job of balancing his performance so that it was entertaining. Jason Sudeikis was very good as the slightly obnoxious stupid friend. Jason Bateman was my favorite character because he is the most relatable and he was very funny. Ioan Gruffudd stole his respective scene as well in his understated comedic way.
My biggest complaint with this movie was the character of Dale. He was too stupid and too obnoxious although I was happy to see how the film played out for his character. I couldn't for the life of me understand why Nick was friends with Dale.
If you are curious it's worth watching. If you aren't interested, you aren't missing anything.
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