Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses offers a dastardly scenario — what if you could get away with murdering that obnoxious superior who makes your daily grind a misery? Three friends, Nick (Bateman), Dale (Day), and Kurt (Sudeikis), hatch a plot to off their respective bosses with a little help from a crime mentor, played by Jamie Foxx, and some meta Strangers on a Train referencing.

There’s a delicious friction created by pay-grade appropriate casting: A-listers Spacey, Aniston and Farrell play the eponymous bosses, while the jobbing TV comedians are their underlings. Unfortunately, though, Horrible Bosses doesn’t have the courage of its convictions. All the vicarious thrill evaporates when it becomes clear that this trio don’t have the balls to actually go through with murder.

You begin to wonder what a sardonic screen presence like Bill Murray or Ben Stiller could have done with this material. And instead of simply mentioning Hitchcock, director Gordon should have borrowed some of his menace. It’s not quite horrible, but it’s no Throw Momma from the Train. [Jamie Dunn]