I still think that this is a silly, phantasmagorical flick. But that doesn’t prevent me from objectively acknowledging the mastery of Colin Farrell’s acting. He delivers there his most farcical performance to date in his pitch-perfect American accent. His Bobby Pellitt is a caricature of those real people I frequently describe here—those who think that GAAP and GAP are the same things.
Huffington Post nominated the following exchange as one of the funniest movie quotes of the year. It’s both funny and quite probable—believe me.
(Written by Michael Markowitz and John Francis Daley.)
Bobby: We need to trim some of the fat.
Kurt: What do you mean by trim the fat?
Bobby: I want you to fire the fat people. They’re lazy and they’re slow and they make me sad to look at.
A quick warning to my readers, dealing with difficult bosses on daily basis as a part of their job descriptions: You will not be able to relate to the protagonists of "Horrible Bosses."
It is not a comedic representation of the workplace environment, which I always welcome when it's done well. It's a physical farce of the "Hangover" kind. It has nothing to do with the reality of professional life. As the matter of fact, it did not need to be about work at all. The preposterous premise that three men, who know each other (!), abhor their bosses to the point that they (all three of them at the same time!) decide to commit murders, cancels any possibility of intellectual thinking behind the story (what story?!). The people depicted in the movie – both bosses and employees could have been anybody. This could be about husbands vs. wives (or other way around), students vs. teachers, athletes vs. coaches – you get it, right? And everyone acts like a clown. I wouldn't mind the shenanigans if the heroes had any recognizable characterizations. Do you know anybody who would agree to drink a full glass of Scotch in his boss's office at 8:15 AM?
It's just so sad that it always happens like that in Hollywood. First someone has a commercial success with a certain concept – vampires, zombies, ordinary people getting themselves into rediculously farcical situations, etc. Then bunch of unoriginal "filmmakers" follow suit – concept remains the same, but characters and circumstances change slightly. AND NOBODY CARES ABOUT THE STORY! It's all tricks and gimmicks.
How unfortunate that fantastic Kevin Spacey, whom I deeply respect and who gave me two of my top twenty theatrical experiences (in "The Iceman Cometh" and "A Moon for Misbegotten") has agreed to make this. I know he needs money for all the great artistic endeavors he champions, like TriggerStreet and The Old Vic, but still. You want to see him play a really scary boss, get Swimming with Sharks (1994) from Netflix.
The Frustrated CFO 