Horrible Bosses 2

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
  Horrible Bosses 2
Released 11/26/14

Comedy is one of my favorite movie genres.  Along with action and horror, it makes up my "big three."  As much as I love comedy, I've come to one unfortunate truth about it.  The genre doesn't lend itself to sequels very well.  Unless you're the Three Stooges or, to a lesser extent, the Marx Brothers or Abbott and Costello, inspired lunacy only seems to be good for one take.  Think about most recent attempts.  Did the two Hangover sequels come close to generating the sheer hilarious idiocy of the first?  They weren't bad, but, the first Hangover was a classic.  How about American Pie?  The theater sequels didn't approach the crazy teen raunch of the original.  And, let's not get into the awful straight-to-video sequels. What about the Friday movies?  When Chris Tucker left, the magic left.   All of this said, I still had some hopes for the subject of this review, Horrible Bosses 2, the sequel to the underrated 2011 film. 

The cast of the original has returned, with the exception of Colin Farrell (who I won't say anything about if you haven't seen the first movie). Despite my trepidations, I was willing to give Horrible Bosses 2 a shot due to my love of the first film.  With the additions of Oscar-winner, Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine to the mix, what did our returning cast (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Jamie Foxx) have in store for us this time?

Our "intrepid" heroes, Nick, Kurt, and Dale (Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day) have escaped the shackles of corporate America and decided to go into business for themselves thanks to their ingenious new invention called "The Shower Buddy."  Looking for investors in their new venture, they cross paths with insanely wealthy businessman, Burt Hanson (Waltz), who, incredibly, is very interested in helping them achieve the American Dream.  He goes as far as to place an order for thousands of Shower Buddy units to sell in one of his catalogues and set them up with bank funding to produce the product despite the protests of his arrogant son, Rex (Pine). 

Now, since the name of this film is Horrible Bosses, I don't think I'm giving away anything by saying things don't go as planned and Burt's true intentions aren't benevolent.  After they are bilked out of their company and dreams, Nick, Kurt, and Dale embark on a plot of revenge.  But how do three goofballs go about exacting vengeance on someone much smarter and much wealthier than they are?  First, they'll pay a prison visit to Nick's psychotic former boss (Spacey) for some much needed advice.  After being thoroughly insulted, they'll try their former "murder consultant", "Motherf*$#&r" Jones (Foxx).  The three eventually come up with a ridiculous plot on their own involving Burt's son.  But the plan will need guile, intelligence, and a little bit of laughing gas pilfered from Dale's former boss, nymphomaniac dentist, Julia Harris (Aniston).

Sadly, Horrible Bosses 2, suffers from the same affliction as most comedy sequels.  Much like the recent Anchorman 2, it just seems like most involved are trying too hard at making the same jokes from the first film funnier or, at the very least, funny again.  There's very little magic here.  There's nothing inherently wrong with any of the performances, but it seems like the actors' talents are being wasted.  Of particular concern to me was Jason Sudeikis' character.  In the first film, he was a goof to be sure.  Here he plays much more of the buffoon on par with Charlie Day's character.  It was just weird to me that the powers that be decided to make Kurt a complete clod as I don't remember him this way.  Maybe I need to watch Horrible Bosses again. 

As mentioned, Day, is almost inhumanly stupid as he plays a version of his character from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (as he always seems to do).  Bateman, of course, plays the straight man in this madness; he's not a dumb guy, but clearly not a master criminal who isn't helped by being saddled with two clowns as partners. 

That's not to say that Horrible Bosses 2 isn't without its moments.  Kevin Spacey chews the scenery as Nick's evil ex-boss.  Waltz plays a snake-in-the-grass with glee.  Pine is perfectly smarmy as the pretty-boy ass of a human being who has secrets of his own.  But, most notable again, is Jennifer Aniston.  Like the first film, she steals just about every scene she's in.  And the great thing about it is she looks like she's having so much fun with this character.  Julia knows what she is and makes no apologies for it.

Watching Horrible Bosses 2 isn't the worst way to spend 90 minutes of your time.  But, viewing it is something best left to a lazy Sunday afternoon watching Netflix. 

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

*** stars

As a reference, I would rate the first film at four stars.

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.