Title – Horrible Bosses 2 (2014)

Director – Sean Anders (That’s My Boy)

Cast – Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Chris Pine, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Christoph Waltz, Jonathan Banks

Plot – The boys are back! Nick (Bateman), Kurt (Sudeikis) and Dale (Day) find themselves plotting to kidnap rich businessman Bert Hanson’s (Waltz) son Rex (Pine) after Bert swindles them in a business deal.

 “I hate to break it to you, but the American dream is in China”

Review by Eddie on

In what’s become an increasingly frequent and often mind boggling irritating aspect of modern day comedy films, Horrible Bosses 2 continues the new age trend of being loud, fast and fancies itself on the improv front, creating a comedy that has some nice ideas, but no moments to shine, as things are often just too busy thanks to people talking over each other and an over reliance on crudeness in lieu of genuine smarts.

In what is perhaps the most unwarranted sequel of recent times, Bosses 2 reunites our 3 bumbling wannabe criminals in the form of Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudekis but more so than the occasionally ingenious first outing, Bosses 2 loses much of what made the first outing a breakout hit thanks to its slap dash plotting and extremely incoherent scripting that comes across as a constant fight for scene chewing by the three leads in what was clearly meant to be a banter between the stars following films such as Anchorman and This is the End, but unlike those similar films, Bosses just doesn’t have the gold to mine that they did.

Where Bosses also falls short is in its narrative and while the first was anything but Pulitzer Prize worthy, the second film really comes across as a far fetching grasp at replicating the wins of the first, but the kidnapping device and baddies that inhabit this tale just don’t have the same affect that Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrell had in the first, even though Aniston and Spacey return in cameo like roles that provide some pretty hearty laughs. Most of the films genuine laughs stem from the return of Jamie Foxx as Mr. M. Jones and an extended kidnapping scheme sequence that displays a momentary element of genuine smarts and story savvies. New comers to the Bosses universe Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz seem to be enjoying themselves here but neither have the impact needed to elevate Bosses to another level and it does seem as though our central trio are less enthused about the project when compared to the first.

It’s worrying that Horrible Bosses 2 is another comedic adventure that lives in the LOUD, OTT and unimpressively made up on the fly style of comedy films and judging by its tepid reception when compared to the first, it’s clear that audiences are growing tired of their comedies being made in such a manner. There’s enough here to not write off Horrible Bosses 2 completely, but overall this is another supposedly funny film that isn’t actually all that funny.

2 permanent Sharpie markers out of 5