Horrible Bosses 2: Movie Review

Writer/director Sean Anders takes over for Seth Gordon in the surprisingly superior “Horrible Bosses 2”. Sequels are rarely as good as the first film and comedy-sequels are usually painfully bad retreads (looking at you “The Hangover” trilogy”). Anders has proven that he can write some pretty funny stuff with films like “Sex Drive”, “Hot Tub Time Machine”, and “We’re the Millers”. Granted he had numerous co-writers on a few of those.

This time around, Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudekis), and Dale (Charlie Day) have quit their terrible jobs and decided to become their own bosses. They have invented a product called the Shower Buddy, which they perform in a hilarious demonstration on a live morning television talk show. When a large company run by Bert Hanson (Christoph Waltz) and his son Rex (Chris Pine) places an order for 100 thousand units, the trio take a loan from the bank in order to manufacture the order. Unfortunately Bert cancels the order after production is finished, leaving them on the verge of losing their company because of major debt.

What do Nick, Kurt, and Dale decide to do? They kidnap Rex for a ransom of course. What they didn’t expect is for Rex to actually to be all for the kidnapping in order to get money from his father. Pine is a welcome addition to the group here and he can hold his own against the comedic actors. Waltz is ok as the baddie but he is seriously underused and not given much to do at all. Unlike Kevin Spacey who was terrific in the first film. Thankfully Spacey returns for a great extended cameo. Jamie Foxx is also back as MF Jones and Jennifer Aniston has some decent moments as the sex addicted Doctor Julia Harris.

Those who enjoyed “Horrible Bosses” should have plenty of fun with the sequel and hopefully it will wash the taste of this month’s “Dumb and Dumber To” out of your mouth, which unfortunately Anders also worked on.

By: Marc Ferman