Horrible Bosses 2

By: Robert Murphy

The concept of getting revenge on a bad boss is something that comes to everyones minds at one point or another and Horrible Bosses nailed that idea on the head when they put average joes, Kurt, Nick and Dale (Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman and Charlie Day) to the task of murdering their bosses. Now the three are back and trying to become their own bosses with their invention "The Shower Buddy/Daddy" patent pending. They catch a break with the idea and have a big name catalog company decides to make their dreams come true. The company is run by big bad Burt Hanson (Christopher Waltz) and working along side of him is his son, a winner of the butt wipe of the year award, Rex (Chris Pine). All seems to be going well until the three are double crossed and left with no money to pay their new employees and in order to save their company they once again try to attempt a daring stunt, a kidnapping. As you'd expect it plays out in a serious of wild stints and miss adventures once again as they all prove just what horrible criminals average people would make if they tried these stunts.

Comedy sequels are always a huge wild card and you never can tell just how they're going to turn out, right on the coat tales of another comedy sequel, Dumb and Dumber To, Horrible Bosses 2 swooped in and surprises me with it's ability to stay funny. The problem with most comedy sequels is that things feel familiar, jokes are re-used and things aren't as fresh but that isn't the case here. Yes, there are plenty of references to Horrible Bosses to be seen but they are not drawn out or put on screen to make you try and laugh at the same joke twice. Kurt, Nick and Dale continue to have tremendous on screen chemistry together and could in all honesty riff and go back and forth with banter all day with one another and that is present throughout the movie. They all seem to be more comfortable in their roles, Kurt is still has his sick and I shouldn't laugh at that humor, Nick and his dry sarcasticness and Dale with the little brother type of character who bless his heart tries his best but is so darn dumb. A great aspect for their characters is now that they have their own company, they finally are the bosses themselves but while this is great it's bad for them too. Once the threat of losing their business becomes present they essential face the problem of becoming bad bosses of their own. This and the threat of losing everything drives home the new plot line I think and makes the stale idea of committing another crime more enjoyable.  

Not only is the main cast on point, the other returning cast members and new faces also provide a solid performance all around. Jennifer Aniston and the now incarcerated Kevin Spacey have come back as well as Jamie Foxx and while not much has changed about them, they adopt more into their roles this time around. Aniston is now in a sex anonymous group scene and their is an interesting interaction between her  and Nick, Spacey is as cruel and heartless as before but somehow seems to be even more frightening behind bars. Foxx is probably my most favorite in the returning characters and his cross town cop chase that he leads with the guys has some of my favorite moments from the movie in it. As for the new comers, Burt Hanson continues to amaze with his roles in just about everything I see him in. He brings the power and general jerkyness of a high level executive to life and while he isn't too prominent in the movie, his scenes are still fantastic. Then you have the glossy charms of Chris Pines who is impossibly likable and is really the one who turns the whole thing around on the guys to get them to continue with their plans once he's in on it. He fits in quite nicely with the three and continues to charm and flash his smile to get what he wants out of the whole ordeal.

Some of the fresher and new jokes do push the envelop a bit and were frankly the only parts where I was a little disappointed by the whole thing but luckily they were brief. The sex anon meeting with Aniston and Bateman recount his passed gay love experience brought things to a whole new level. And if the scene wasn't bad enough, the scene that reveals Aniston having sex with Bateman will, brief glances of him bent over an end table will still haunt my dreams. Other instances revolve primarily around the sex angle of Aniston as she finally almost gets her way with Dale by proposing a three way with Nick and Kurt at a crucial point in the kidnapping. It all goes a little bit too far but the scenes were brief and stay out of the lime light just as the references to the previous film do, so hopefully you can move on from it as I did. 

All in all, Horrible Bosses 2 is another great time with Nick, Dale and Kurt once again way in over their heads once again. While I was so apprehensive about the movie, I was surprised to see what I got when I watched it, the three are better than ever with their banter and returning stars hit their high notes once again. The new comers were also fantastic additions especially Chris Pine and his buddy buddy personality, he fits right in to the group and makes himself at home here. As for the unfortunate jokes I mentioned earlier, they can be overlooked for their briefness in the film and you can move on to enjoy all the laughs to be had for this perfect end of the year comedy. 

Good:

- Bateman, Sudeikis and Day are excellent in their roles

- Funny throughout the movie

- New comers and old favorites are back and better than before

Bad:

- Some unfortunate jokes that go a tad too far

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10