Horrible Bosses

Michael Markowitz wrote the script, New Line bought it in 2005, and cameras did not roll until 2010, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein rewriting in between. Seth Gordon came from documentary; his previous film was The King of Kong, on arcade record chasing. The three bosses are not equally present. Kevin Spacey’s Harken and Jennifer Aniston’s dentist carry the spine to the end, while Colin Farrell’s Bobby Pellit is shot dead around the midpoint. Farrell proposed that look himself: hair combed over the bald crown, the belly, the Chinese dragons. Anyone drawn in by it gets a small portion. The plan never becomes a thriller either. They hand the job to an ex-convict met in a bar, who instead of killing anyone tells them to murder each other’s bosses, and every step then goes wrong. The comedy comes from failures stacking up, not danger. Jamie Foxx had his character’s name changed at his own request. Aniston’s role was written for her from the start; a brown wig breaks it from her familiar image. On a budget near thirty five million dollars the film took over two hundred million worldwide. A good fit if you do not mind the plan collapsing every time and the threat never turning real. Not for a viewer expecting Dale’s harassment to be taken seriously.