Horrible Bosses 2
Starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day
Directed by Sean Anders
Our first glimpse of Charlie Day in Horrible Bosses 2 finds him stewing in his own flop sweat. While ostensibly conveying his tightly wound character’s rampant anxiety, there’s nevertheless something eerily genuine about his agitation. And as director Sean Anders scrapes the bottom of a barrel labelled “Caution: Noxious Humour” (and then has Jennifer Aniston suggestively lick the spoon), it becomes plainly evident that any misgivings on the actor’s part are well-founded. He and his fellow cast members have some heavy lifting ahead of them.
Having liberated themselves from their oppressive supervisors in the considerably sturdier first instalment, Dale (Day), Nick (Jason Bateman), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) have now been gripped by the entrepreneurial spirit. While this seems a prime opportunity to explore how these former grunts might find themselves corrupted by authority, Andres and his Sex Drive co-writer John Morris unsurprisingly opt for the path of least resistance. Consequently, the partners are preyed upon by a conniving investor (Christoph Waltz, cashing an easy paycheque) and are left with no other recourse than kidnapping the villain’s thirtysomething brat (Chris Pine) for ransom.
Through the misadventures that inevitably (and ineptly) ensue, Andres and Morris repeatedly try to assure us that nothing is funnier than a straight dude being mistaken for gay (although the dalliances of nymphomaniacs – represented by Aniston's one-gag/no-gag-reflex “character” – come a close second). In the wake of the Cosby scandal, some will deem their decision to play the sexual assault of an anesthetized victim for laughs “unfortunate.” But, as they say in business circles, “You make your own luck.” And this dreck doesn't earn any breaks.
