Horrible Bosses 2

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. “Horrible Bosses 2” starts off rocky, but in the end I laughed so hard and so often that it could easily see past that. The setup, like I said is pretty rough, but it leads into some good stuff, so bear with me. Between the first movie and this one, Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) have quit their jobs and started their own company. When a millionaire (Christoph Waltz) ends up putting them in a no-win situation, these three idiots get caught up in a kidnap and ransom scheme involving the man’s son (Chris Pine)

I can’t reiterate enough how rough the beginning of this movie was. From the moment I saw the poster for this movie, I was wondering how they even set up a “Horrible Bosses 2”. Weren’t all of the issues from first movie totally resolved? How would these characters end up with bosses that were as bad, if not worse than the ones from the first film? That’s why the weakest part of the movie is the beginning. They basically have to jump through these weird hoops to give us a new story. Once you get past that, and I certainly did, it is filled to the brim with laughs.

There were not just one or two big laughs during this movie. I laughed consistently out loud because although I’ve come to kind of love the heroes in these movies, they are total idiots. That’s what works with this movie. I’m sure there would be easier ways, if you applied real-world logic to this plot, for them to get out of the pickles they get themselves in. These guys are not bright enough to do this though. They think they learned their lessons from what happened in the first movie, and I suppose in a way they have. That doesn’t mean they’re any smarter though. This time around they have a slew of wholly new idiotic actions and decisions to make and they will do them over and over. That means you will get a joke, and it’ll be funny and then out of the blue they will repeat that joke, right when you had forgotten about it and it becomes twice as funny. What I found surprising is that because the characters in this movie are so stupid, the plot becomes completely unpredictable. Oh you know that things are going to go wrong, but with these three, who knew what it was going to be?

I think my favourite thing, above all is that this film is similar to the first one, but it isn’t a rehash. It’s just kind of inevitable at this point that these three idiots (and I really mean idiots; these guys couldn’t willingly pull off a murder between the three of them in the first movie, and they barely got away with not getting all three of themselves killed) are going to get themselves in trouble. The trouble this time might have to deal with another horrible boss, but it’s not the same exact situation where all three of them have to deal with a bad person and they decide to kill each other’s bosses. This movie really is a sequel. It’s the further adventures of Nick, Kurt and Dale. I was glad to be along for the ride.

You can tell that everyone making this film was having a great time, and that it’s infectious. The laughs come in quickly and consistently (and there are some outtakes during the credits to ensure you leave with a smile), there’s great chemistry between all of the actors, the additions to this “universe” are a lot of fun, and they manage to make a sequel that will bring back some of the favourite elements from the first movie too. I didn’t know what to expect out of “Horrible Bosses 2” and I really had a terrific time. I can’t wait to watch the first movie again because knowing that these guys will have further adventures will probably make it even better. I’d be excited to watch it again because I was laughing so often that I know I missed out on a lot of the jokes. (Preview Screening on the big screen, November 20, 2014)