The new classics of 2011 aren’t as elaborate as the great comedies of years gone by; rather, the joke tends to be right there in the title: “The Hangover Part II,” “Bad Teacher,” and now “Horrible Bosses.”
But I’d argue that these comedies don’t have to be complex. There’s a scene early in “Horrible Bosses” where an unemployed friend of the lead trio (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day) reveals the lengths he’ll go to to make 40 bucks, and immediately their horrible jobs don’t seem so horrible. “Office Space” was about having a bad job; “Horrible Bosses” expands the theme to living in a time of a bad job market. We all get it, and frankly, we got it even before the movie started, but it’s always nice when Hollywood takes a step onto the same plane of reality as the rest of us.
Granted, the film’s horrible bosses are cartoony exaggerations of reality: Kevin Spacey is a Wall Street mogul who abuses his power; Colin Farrell is a cocaine addict bilking the chemical-supply company his dad handed down to him; and Jennifer Aniston is a dentist who rather ingeniously tries to blackmail Day’s character — her assistant — into sleeping with her by threatening to tell his fiancée that he’s sleeping with her.
In the real world, the headaches employees get from their bad bosses tend to be more understated, and not fodder for a summer comedy. Still, when the trio gets to the point of deciding to kill their bosses, we can see where they’re coming from; Spacey’s character, who is taking advantage of Bateman, is particularly detestable. In the case of Sudeikis, it seems like it’d be easier to just wait till Farrell gets imprisoned on a drug charge. And in the case of Day’s problem with Aniston, well, like his friends keep telling him, “You know, yours doesn’t sound so bad.”
Aniston steals the show, going 180 degrees away from Rachel Green by spouting unrepeatable filth and going to absurd lengths to land her target; this character even blows away Cameron Diaz’s “Bad Teacher,” and I liked that movie, too. There might be some social commentary about double standards here: If a man was playing Aniston’s role, no one would find it funny. Still, it’s hard to deny: Day’s situation doesn’t sound so bad.
In addition to tapping into broad truths, recent comedies are also clicking because there’s a wealth of talent in front of and behind the camera. In “Horrible Bosses,” Day plays a not-quite-as-stupid version of Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (although he’s still the stupid one in the group), Bateman plays the same role he always plays (but I’m not complaining), and “Saturday Night Live” veteran Sudeikis plays the average-looking guy who’s a hit with the ladies mainly because the script says he is.
You’ll also find great glorified cameos, namely Jamie Foxx as M—–f—– Jones, the trio’s “murder consultant.”
Behind the scenes, the “Freaks and Geeks” connection strikes again, as it does on most quality comedies nowadays: John Francis Daley (Sam on “F&G”) is one of the screenwriters.
He and the other two writers use the “crime in the making” foundation much like “Office Space” did, taking things in weird and wild directions, yet never losing sight of the theme: Sometimes your job sucks, and wouldn’t it be great if you could do something about it? Well, you can’t, but 90 minutes of solid laughs isn’t a bad temporary reprieve.
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