Horrible Bosses 2 Review

Everything you need to know about Horrible Bosses 2 is in the hysterical opening scene. Nick, Kurt and Dale have overcome the difficulties they had with their former horrible bosses and are setting up their own business together with their patented product the Shower Buddy. Appearing on a daytime TV show, Charlie Day is sweaty, high pitched and nervy. Sudeikis is confident, idiotic and mouthy, while Bateman is the usual straight guy trying to keep his two friends under some semblance of control.

The opening scene sets the tone for the onslaught of jokes to come, mostly based around sexuality, race and gender. First they make themselves look gay, then they make themselves look racist and finally they make every hot female look like a target for a sexual conquest. The only thing that saves Horrible Bosses from being hideously offensive to everyone who isn't a straight white man is that the three straight white men at the centre of all this are the most moronic bunch of man-children you will ever meet.

So when they meet with Christoph Waltz's oily businessman Bert Hanson and his slick son Rex (Chris Pine) to set up a distribution deal for their Shower Buddy enterprise, it is highly unsurprising when it all goes wrong. Horrible Bosses 2 might be saying something critical about the ruthless capitalist mindset but more than anything, it is demonstrating just how unrelentingly stupid a trio of ordinary guys can be. There are pops at the NSA and the American Dream being Made in China, but really the funnies are brought by the boys' banter, and more often than not, the sight of the three men all talking, yelling or screaming over the top of each other.

Deciding to kidnap Chris Pine in order to extort money from Waltz's bigwig, the script just about manages to justify cramming in cameos from former bosses Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston, giving little for the former to do but considerably beefing up Aniston's presence and amping up her wild side. Chris Pine unleashes his charisma to teeth whitening effect, bravely attempting to hold his own when up against the unstoppable silliness of Sudeikis, Day and Bateman.

Horrible Bosses 2 is like its central characters; loud, obnoxious, incredibly dimwitted, but strangely loveable. There are many big laughs, even if some of the jokes get repetitive and almost every scene seems to end with the trio bellowing over each other. Bateman, Sudeikis and Day are effortlessly funny guys and the script zips along aided by some creative directing from Sean Anders. If you're not on board by the outtakes (which unless you've lost your funny bone, you probably will be), stick around in the credits to see just how much fun the cast were having while making the movie. They had a lot of laughs even if you didn't.



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We're the Millers Review

There is a fine line between characters that are funny and characters that are just plain selfish, obnoxious or stupid. We're the Millers treads the fine line deftly with some scummy characters that never stray far from sweet and endearing despite what they are up to. Identity Thief is an example of a recent film that had a character that was just too damn hard to warm to and therefore even the hilarious Melissa McCarthy couldn't make her funny.

We're the Millers has a rag tag group of misfits come together to pretend to be a normal nuclear family in order to smuggle a tonne of dope over the Mexican-American border. There is selfish small time weed dealer David (Jason Sudeikis), stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston), homeless runaway teen Casey (Emma Roberts) and sweet and innocent virgin Kenny (Will Poulter). David assembles his makeshift 'family' to help him shift the pot over the border as he thinks a happy family in an RV will not arouse as much suspicion in the eyes of border patrol as if he tried to do it himself. But these four make for less than a simple happy family and crossing the border is the least of their problems when they realise a pissed off drug lord is on their tail.

We're the Millers is a riotous road trip that might be lacking in surprises but makes up for this with some laugh out loud moments that are rude, occasionally raunchy and frequently uncomfortable. It is a measure of the kind of comedy in this film that the funniest moment in the film plays on what could be perceived as incestuous snogging between a boy and his Mum and his sister. If that doesn't sound like you're kind of humour then best to avoid We're the Millers.

Both the script and performances keep things zippy and appealing even if the characters should occasionally be appalling. Jason Sudeikis is eminently likeable despite the selfish character, Aniston is still a gifted comedienne (and looks stunning in her underwear!), Roberts reveals layers beneath the hard exterior of Casey and Will Poulter while only getting a fairly one note character proves that he has comic timing, can do an American accent and is destined to be a very big star one day soon.

We're the Millers may not break boundaries in its border crossing but it is a road trip fueled by excellent comedic performances and a few side splitting scenes; a comedy about a family that is definitely not suitable for the whole family.

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