Official Synopsis
Fed up with answering to higher-ups, Nick (Bateman), Dale (Day) and Kurt (Sudeikis) decide to become their own bosses by launching their own business in “Horrible Bosses 2.” But a slick investor soon pulls the rug out from under them. Outplayed and desperate, and with no legal recourse, the three would-be entrepreneurs hatch a misguided plan to kidnap the investor’s adult son and ransom him to regain control of their company.
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The first Horrible Bosses was a fun revenge ride with a goofball trio leading the way. Their motivation to get back at their horrible bosses was justified and warranted, plus entertaining as hell. Was it the best, most original comedy in the world? No, but it was fun. Three years out from the original release, Warner Bros. green lights and releases in 2014 a follow-up that has just a slightly different concept, but with less fire than the first.
The film starts out with Nick, Dale and Kurt trying to sell a new product called the Shower Buddy, a shower head that controls the distribution of shampoo/conditioner/etc.. After going on a local television morning show to try and gain investors, the trio get a call from a big business man named Bert Hanson (Christoph Waltz), who is interested in purchasing and selling the product worldwide. Thinking they have scored big, they meet with Hanson and do a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ in regards to the deal. The trio gets a loan, starts their own business and production line and think they’ve made their dreams come true.
The beginning of the movie starts out fine. The setup is obvious and the end of act one is more of a soothsayer of sorts when it comes to showing you how all of this great build up is going to fail. The first act also introduces us to what will surely by a lot of cheap humor going forward, which is what this film (and the last) used to capture people’s attention. It keeps the viewer away from the details and how many holes this story does have in it, especially when the film gets going. For example, the shower scene on the morning television show where Charlie Day’s Dale is pumping water behind the see-through shower while Jason Sudeikis’ Kurt is waiting patiently for the water to spout out is something straight out of Austin Powers. It’s cheap humor that sets the tone for the rest of the movie and, again, keeps everyone’s mind off the fact that the story has some issues.
The second act has our trio getting royally jobbed by Hanson and his jerk son Rex (Chris Pine). The trio’s business is tanked, their product is stolen by the Hanson’s and they’re left in ruins. What’s a group of wannabe thugs to do? They go to the dark side, just like from the first film, and develop a kidnapping plan to take Rex and acquire ransom in exchange. Seems plausible, right?
I know this is a film that is supposed to be outlandish, but I’m bothered by the fact that legally these guys can’t just hire a lawyer and sue the shit out of the Hanson family. Even more to the point, why didn’t Kurt, Dale and Nick patent their product? Certainly they did that before they toted it around, right? My point here is that if these guys were dumb enough to not do any of the above then maybe they deserve to be screwed in the deal. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it seems like writers Sean Anders and John Morris didn’t properly put together and plug up all the potential holes when putting this story together. To the writers credit, the story has the trio talking with Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), one of the original horrible bosses from the first film, about legal action, which he points out would bankrupt the guys. That helps, but at the same time jumping from legal action to kidnapping is quite a jump. And honestly, I’m not sure there is enough motivation (pros/cons) to justify breaking the law that much with these nice guys leading the way. Additionally, the fact the trio goes straight to kidnapping actually makes them somewhat evil in the process. Getting verbally abused (physically sometimes) in the first film was enough to justify driving the guys over the edge. This time around it seems like the story could have gone a different route.
With all that said, I fully understand that going to extremes in this comedy breeds funnier moments of cheap humor, which is what drove the first film to a sequel. I can buy that, but the business side of me says this might have been a deeper comedy, if they might had gone a bit more intelligent with it (it’s possible to still have cheap humor with an intelligent script). How that might have gone is anyone’s guess, but I know it’s possible.
Anyway, the third act is the most intelligent of the bunch and fires on all cylinders heading toward the homestretch. Pine’s Rex Hanson turns on his father, encourages his own kidnapping and sets up the entire plan with the boys. The end result, which I won’t give away, is hilarious, though the end/catch of how the trio wins is a bit weak. It could have concluded the situation stronger, but it seemed like a cheap way out of the story. Nonetheless, the third act is the best, especially when you get Jennifer Aniston’s Dr. Julia Harris involved and the wonderful Jamie Foxx as Dean ‘MFer’ Jones. Foxx’s character is interesting because he calls out the guys perfectly and helps them out at the end (enjoy that one).
In the end, I think that Horrible Bosses 2, while entertaining in some areas, couldn’t match the fun had with the first film. I think the story wasn’t fully thought through yet, as it seemed like the jokes were in place long before the buoyancy of the story was tested out. Sometimes comedies think about the moments rather than the overall body of work. This was one of those movies. Having said that, if you enjoyed the first film, then you will find some enjoyment in the second, despite the fact that it was enormously short on Jennifer Aniston (she was incredibly funny in the first movie).
In short, not as good as the first movie, but it certainly has its moments.
On the blu-ray side of things, it’s another great transfer from Warner Home Video, who excels at HD transfers. There isn’t an imperfection in the transfer, nor is their any graininess or artifacts in the transfer. There is signs of color banding at all. Again, it’s another great transfer from Warner Home Video.
On the audio side of things, the film comes to you in DTS-HD 5.1 and the aspect ratio of the movie is 2.4:1.
In the special features department, here’s what to expect:
· Let The Sexual Healing Begin
· Who Invented The Shower Buddy
· Nick Kurt Dale INC: Employee Testimonials
· It’s The Shower Buddy – Infomercial
· High Speed Crash Course
· Off The Cuff: One Liners You Didn’t See
This is an excellent group of features for this film. This is in addition to the outtakes included during the credits of the movie. The special features fit the film and Warner Home Video did a great job with creating and complimenting the movie with its special features.
Horrible Bosses 2 arrives onto Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD on February 24th from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment