Director: Sean Anders
Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.; Warner Bros. Home Video
Duration: 108 minutes
Horrible Bosses 2 (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
Ever felt the urge to kill the boss you work for? Or just drop out and start a business on your own? In the first Horrible Bosses, we saw how three guys plotted to murder their employers but it turned out quite different in the end. This time around, not murder but kidnapping plays a major part in the storyline.
We meet up with the familiar cast of last time. Three friends have decided to start their very own business as they invented the ‘Shower Buddy’, a device that makes showering a less time-consuming task (you can save up to a minute of time per shower, isn’t that groundbreaking?). If you haven’t watched the first Horrible Bosses movie, allow me to introduce you to the main characters.
Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) can be seen as the leader of the pack. The other guys mostly follow his lead as they don’t seem to have a mind of their own most of the time. Nick always thinks things through and is by far the smartest of the bunch. Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) is probably the guy with the least amount of grey mass in his head. Traits you can expect to see from him: being incredibly impulsive, easy to manipulate and always distracted by women. Lastly, we’ve got Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) who’s pretty much a sheep together with Buckman. They are both very easily influenced by other people. Dale stays a bit more on the background but can be quite loud sometimes.
Now for the story itself. As said before, the ‘Shower Buddy’ offered our friends a way out by becoming bosses themselves. After making the device known to the public, soon enough, they get an offer from a massive distribution company which they gladly accept. Unfortunately for them, it soon turns out to be a massive scam. As a result, Nick, Kurt and Dale would lose everything they invested in the Shower Buddy and their own business. Well, the three are not about to let that happen and decide to kidnap the son of the boss of that particular company. However, as you might’ve noticed from the previous movie, our boys are not the best criminals in town. The ideas they come up with are … creative to say the least. Anyways, the movie is about how the guys try to take back what is theirs and save the business they created.
The story is far from original and innovative but it suits this kind of movie well enough. Seeing the main characters on the criminal path is a pleasant and often hilarious experience. How to check if someone is not at home? Well, just plainly ring the doorbell, I guess? Oh, the fact that you’re carrying tanks filled with laughing gas is just a minor detail of course. These are the kind of situations you can expect to witness in Horrible Bosses 2 and although not every moment is as funny, the level of ridiculousness stays steady throughout the whole movie.
Horrible Bosses 2 offers an impressive cast with multiple Oscar winners in the ranks. The actors who play the three main characters are very good at playing together as a trio and know when and how to react in a certain situation. The only noticeable annoyance was that the actor who plays Dale, Charlie Day, seemed a bit loud compared to the other two. He has a pretty unique voice which gives him the ability to drown out other sounds or spoken text and for that reason, he often felt a bit too present in certain scenes compared to Bateman and Sudeikis.
Other cast members include: Jennifer Aniston who plays Dr. Julia Harris, Christoph Waltz as Bert Hanson, Kevin Spacey in the role of prisoner and former employer Dave Harken and Jamie Foxx as the hilarious gangster Dean ‘Motherfucker’ Jones. The performances of all four of them are just sublime and the movie would’ve certainly lost a few points if those guys (and girl) weren’t included. Another actor you’ll see quite a lot of is Chris Pine who plays the kidnapped son Rex Hanson. Throughout the movie, he interacts a lot with the three main actors and the dynamic scenes work out very well. Another great addition to the already praiseworthy cast.
Extras wise, there’s a nice range of options to choose from. In Endless Laughter Guaranteed, the actors, actresses and crewmembers talk a lot more about how the movie was made and in particular, they shine some more light upon the humour aspect of the movie. With 17 minutes of bonus content and a very interesting inside look, this featurette is certainly worth a go. Let the Sexual Healing Begin shows us some testimonies of members from the group that fights against their sexual addictions. Further, you have the commercial for the Shower Buddy and scenes with one-liners that eventually didn’t end up in the movie. In short, a lot to watch here!
Conclusion
Horrible Bosses 2 is a decent comedy movie with a not so original or innovative story. Thanks to the strong cast however, the flimsy plot is compensated and the humour will certainly get a few good laughs out of you. All in all, Horrible Bosses 2 proves to be a fun, light, not too complex experience which will please most movie enthusiasts.
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