The first "Horrible Bosses" landed as a solid hard-R hit back in 2011, thanks to audiences falling for Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day as a lovably bumbling trio of would-be criminals. Well, that, and the appeal of watching Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston saying dirty words.
So Nick (Bateman), Kurt (Sudeikis) and Dale (Day) are back again for "Horrible Bosses 2," having ditched the nine-to-five to start their own business. But even though they're their own horrible bosses now, they're still having problems with upper-management types, in the form of the father/son team of potential investors Bert and Rex Hanson, played by Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine.
Of course, comedy sequels haven't always had the best track record; it's a delicate balance recapturing what worked in the first film without just delivering the same movie with new punchlines. (See: "The Hangover Part II.") Not to mention, three idiots attempting to commit major felonies doesn't exactly scream "franchise potential." But turns out, "Horrible Bosses 2" isn't as horrible as it might sound (or, maybe more accurately, as it could've been). Here's a few reasons why the foul-mouthed sequel seemingly shouldn't work -- even though it mostly does.
Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey are back, just because.
The first rule for any comedy sequel is to get the gang back together -- even when it doesn't make any sense -- so most of the cast (who's still alive) from the first "Horrible Bosses" is back for Round 2, from Aniston and Spacey to Jamie Foxx reprising his role as the gang's criminal consultant Motherf***er Jones. Some of these shoehorned cameos make more sense than others; the three ostensibly visit Spacey's character in jail for "advice," which basically amounts to verbal abuse and an excuse to check out his new diamond earring. Hilarious! Meanwhile, working Aniston's sexual predator/dentist back into the story takes some pretty admirable plot gymnastics. Still, if and when "Horrible Bosses 2" works, it's because of the central trio of Bateman, Sudeikis and Day, whose comedy strengths mesh just as well the second time around.
They put an action hero up against three professional comedians.
Anyone who's sat through "This Means War" knows that casting Chris Pine isn't exactly a surefire recipe for comedy gold. But the current Captain Kirk turns in a surprisingly solid performance as the spoiled son of Waltz's double-crossing businessman. When the three hapless businessmen-turned-hapless criminals decide to kidnap Rex to get revenge on his father, Pine's charms and can-do attitude towards the harebrained scheme keeps both the guys and the movie going long after both should've known better. Waltz may seem like the more obvious ringer here, but it's Pine who actually manages to steal the most scenes.
It's from the director of "That's My Boy."
To be fair, it's not like the first "Horrible Bosses" was a flawless comic masterpiece, and you can easily engage in the same kind of resume cherry-picking with that movie's director Seth Gordon. But even so, replacing Gordon with the director of "That's My Boy" and the co-writers of "Dumb and Dumber To" doesn't exactly inspire a ton of confidence. And a lot of "Horrible Bosses 2" feels frustratingly lazy, over-reliant on slick montages set to Top 40 hits to move the plot along, making the movie seem oddly dated at times. Or to put it another way, Katy Perry's "Roar" stars as a major recurring gag. And while Sean Anders seems to have a better handle on the action scenes and car chases than his predecessor, once again, this would-be franchise is at its best in the downbeats, when the three leads are engaging in some semi-improvised bickering, not pulling off second-rate heists.
It ends with outtakes over the end credits.
Seriously, this is rarely ever a good sign for a comedy's prospects. At best, it's a lazy move that signals to moviegoers that even if you didn't have a good time watching this, not to worry, because everyone had a blast making it. And sure, watching funny people flub lines helps ensure that audiences leave the theatre smiling, in case they weren't before the credits started rolling. But it's a far cry from "22 Jump Street" ending on a gloriously meta high note.
It's basically the first movie all over again.
This isn't exactly a big surprise: even the film's poster boasts "New crime, same tools" -- which might as well be trumpeting "New jokes, same movie." Although to the filmmakers' credit, kidnapping does lend itself a little better to comedy than attempted triple homicide. That said, "Horrible Bosses 2" isn't quite a Mad Libs recreation of the first movie beat for beat, and not every sequel has to be a winking, ultra-meta acknowledgement of its sequel-dom like the more recent "22 Jump Street."
Instead, it features slight variations on what worked best the last time, which means really, it's all just an excuse to watch three funny comedians riff in the face of increasingly absurd situations. "Horrible Bosses 2" may not be an upgrade from the first film, but by generating some legitimate laughs despite a few rough patches, it turns out a lot like Nick, Kurt and Dale's criminal enterprises: much better than things could've otherwise ended up.
"Horrible Bosses 2" is now playing in theatres.
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