What Do The Critics Say?

"I'm not kidding when I tell you I have worked for a reasonable facsimile of each of the 'Horrible Bosses' depicted in this grownups-only movie. This film does for Farrell what "Tropic Thunder" did for Tom Cruise. It allows him to flex his humor muscles and show off his largely untapped penchant for comedic acting. One thing's for sure: You'll leave the theater laughing at the funniest movie about work." Linda Cook KWQC-TV "The three main characters each have a serious problem to solve, with seemingly no easy or rational way out. The bosses, of course, have no redeeming qualities. Gordon has the good sense to simply step aside here, letting his cast goof around and bounce off of one another like so many rubber balls." Jeffrey M Anderson COMMON SENSE MEDIA "Made with the same kind of raucous, raw energy the first Hangover film delivered, Horrible Bosses dares to go for broke and is deliciously bold, over-the-top and vulgar. TV writer Michael Markowitz's concept of a difficult boss is one to which everyone can relate on some level and director Seth Gordon provides a safe pair of hands to guide the chaos. A bizarre, funny and outrageous comedy of errors." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"After the sagging disappointment that was The Hangover Part II, director Seth Gordon rolls up his sleeves and shows the comedy pretenders exactly who's boss. His bitter tale of revenge on a trio of workplace nemeses glides along on a bed of nicely-honed gags, slick plotting and masterful comedy playing. Gordon wisely maintains the little guys as ordinary joes. The plot ticks along nicely." Tim Evans SKY MOVIES "A fun, lively chemistry between Nick, Kurt and Dale keeps this snappy story whipping along from gag to gag at a merciless pace. Horrible Bosses has taken the revenge-fantasy story and pumped a whole lot of funny into the old formula. The actors playing the three evil bosses are pure genius as well." Tim Martain THE MERCURY "Hate your job? Hate your boss even more? Horrible Bosses has you covered. It's a delicious guilty pleasure for the likely rather large proportion of the population who have ever wanted to kill their boss. With Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis as the put upon underlings who are recipients of their boss' wrath, their individual comedic timing ensures that this is no David vs Goliath scenario where the A-listers triumph on screen by sheer actorly prowess. Superbly performed and wickedly funny." Gill Pringle FILMINK

The Inside Story "Almost everyone has had a horrible boss at some point in their lives, someone who made life miserable," says director Seth Gordon. "We all know how tempting it is to fantasize about how much better things would be if they were out of the way. This is a story about three guys who decide to do something about it. But," he adds, "it doesn't turn out exactly the way they expect." If bumping off their tormentors seems a little extreme at first, it soon becomes clear that, for one reason or another, these three browbeaten and manipulated workers are out of reasonable options. And it's not as if they started out as homicidal malcontents: actually, quite the opposite. Gordon sees the story's heroes, played by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, as, "just average suburban working Joes. They're not bad guys, really; they're doing their best, but they're trapped and victimized by the people they work for in ways that are truly heinous and profound until they just can't take it anymore." Week after week, longtime buddies Nick, Dale and Kurt meet for a few rounds to commiserate over their distinctly different yet equally desperate predicaments and the individuals responsible: Dave Harken, Nick's control-freak boss, played by Dual Oscar winner Kevin Spacey ("American Beauty" & "The Usual Suspects"); Bobby Pellit, the unconscionable heir to his father's company and the bane of Kurt‘s existence, played by Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell ("In Bruges"); and Dr Julia Harris, the predatory dentist, played by four time winner of Sweden's Aftonbladet TV Prize Jennifer Aniston as audiences have never seen her before. As the conversation (and the beer) takes its natural course, the guys end up reflecting on how much brighter their lives and careers would be if only their despicable bosses were out of the picture. How nice it would be if they turned up dead one day. How much they deserve to turn up dead. If the average moviegoer can't relate to a murder plot, however ill-conceived, the filmmakers feel it's a safe bet they can at least relate to the escalating frustration that finally pushes these three working stiffs over the edge. Producer Brett Ratner ("Skyline"), who developed "Horrible Bosses" with producing partner Jay Stern, notes, "The title alone says it all. It got an immediate reaction from everyone who heard it. People don‘t want to admit that the person they work for now is a horrible boss, but they'll refer to former bosses, or tell us about their =friends who has one. Everyone has bad experiences to draw on, and that's why this is so much fun." "Actually, in discussing the movie, I discovered that a lot more people have wanted to kill their bosses than I would have guessed," Jason Sudeikis ("Bill" & "Hall Pass"), who stars as the normally easygoing Kurt offers. In that respect,"Horrible Bosses" is a tale of wish-fulfillment on a grand scale for anyone who has ever imagined, say, heaving his or her immediate supervisor off the roof, but with Nick, Dale and Kurt taking all the risks and making all the stupid mistakes. "They carry the water for us," says, "After the Sunset" (2004) producer Jay Stern. "These are tough times for a lot of people, and many of us feel thankful to even have a job. At the same time, if someone is oppressing or abusing you, you think, "Do I really have to take this? Do I really have to deal with this maniac? I think there are plenty of people who don't necessarily want to kill their bosses but wouldn‘t mind seeing them hang off an overpass for awhile during rush hour." Starring as the beleaguered Nick, Jason Bateman ("State of Play") agrees: "This is not exactly rational behavior and I hope there's no one like these guys out there. We're just trying to make people laugh." To do the story justice, the filmmakers took an uninhibited approach to "Horrible Bosses" and let the humor: and everything else; fly. "The movie doesn't pull any punches. We really went for it. Seth came in with a very strong point of view and a great vision for the casting and the execution. He knew what the movie needed to be, tonally, and he really delivered. It's a fine line between creating real stakes and real danger, and making it fun and funny. What I like most is that it never feels as though the jokes are there just for the sake of jokes. The humor always comes from character, and from the circumstances, and everything is grounded in the real world," says Ratner, who executive produced eighty one episodes of TV'S "Prison Break". "People just want to go to work, be treated with respect, and go home. Is that too much to ask?," screenwriter Michael Markowitz (TV'S "Becker") wants to know. Markowitz also gets a story credit on the film and confirms that "Horrible Bosses" was largely inspired by his own office experiences. "Writing this was my revenge." "What audiences should keep in mind, lest they judge too harshly, is that these guys are fighting for their dignity. They need to do what it takes to stand up and be men," says screenwriter John Francis Daley, best known for his role as Dr Lance Sweets in TV'S "Bones". Referring to one scene in which this spirit is vigorously demonstrated, his writing partner Jonathan Goldstein (TV'S "The Geena Davis Show") adds, "and if it means sticking a toothbrush up your butt to maintain that dignity, well so be it." "There are probably more appropriate movies to see if you‘re looking for heart-warming growth," Charlie Day ("Going the Distance") admits. "The bottom line", Gordon states, "is there‘s really no message here. It‘s just a fun, rude, escapist comedy about three guys who decide to kill their bosses and are out of their depth as soon as they start." Gordon ("Squirt") acknowledges it is the undeniable chemistry between the film's leads: often referred to on set as Charlie and the two Jasons; that really propels the action. "We got very lucky with this incredible synergy and these three accomplished comic actors who adapted to each others rhythms so perfectly and worked so wonderfully together." As the unwilling prey of the sex-crazed Dr Julia Harris D.D.S., who can't seem to keep her lab coat buttoned up when he‘s in the room, "Dale is the hopeless romantic of the group," Day notes. "He's desperately in love with his fiancée and just wants to be a good guy but his boss is constantly coming on to him. Sometimes even his buddies don't quite sympathize with him." That's understandable, considering that Harris is played by Jennifer Aniston. "We drew straws to see which one of us would play Dale, and Charlie won," Bateman jokes. But, as everyone knows, no means no and this is one woman who never got that memo. When her daily routine of grabbing, flashing and talking trash isn‘t enough, she adds blackmail to the list. "I've never played a character so inexcusably raunchy and there was no way I could resist it. The dialogue and the situations are so outrageous and fun. I jumped at it immediately," says Aniston, whose father John has played Victor Kiriakis in one thousand two hundred and fifteen episodes of "Days Of Our Lives between 1987 and 2011. Aniston calls the movie, "a guilty pleasure for people unhappy in their jobs, to maybe go and get it out of their system by rooting for these guys." It really stretches the limits and crosses boundaries and Dr. Harris is way out in front on all counts: guilty as charged. "What I love about the character is how masculine she is in her sexual appetite," Gordon offered. While 2004 Logie winner Aniston ("Friends") had previously appeared with Sudeikis ("The Bounty Hunter") and Bateman ("The Switch"), she met Charlie Day for the first time on "Horrible Bosses". Recalling the potentially awkward scenario of their first scene together, she says, "Within twenty minutes, I was straddling him in lingerie. But Seth never stopped laughing and we were all in perfect sync; if anything, after every take we‘d be thinking, 'let‘s push it a little further.' I was bizarrely comfortable in these scenes, almost more so than I would be playing the normal girl next door, and every scene was kind of crazy: but that was really the fun of it." Kevin Spacey plays the powerful, tightly wound VP Dave Harken, who lords over the cramped bullpen of Comnidyne Industries where poor Nick toils alongside his fellow corporate drones. "You can‘t even give him the benefit of the doubt, or think for a minute that he‘s being tough in order to teach a lesson or encourage his employees to try harder and bring out their best. There are no underlying strategies that might redeem him. Harken is just a bully. He's a terrible, terrible person. The three of us, who play the bosses, really back these three friends into a corner and I think audiences will completely understand why they're driven to kill us." "Harken is the master of psychological torment and Kevin handles it brilliantly," says Gordon. Colin Farrell plays Kurt's boss Bobby Pellit, one wormy acorn that fell a very long way from the tree. "Playing Pellit was all about channeling my inner douche," Farrell ("Tigerland") revealed. "This guy thinks he's God's gift to women, God's gift to intellect, to humor, to the club scene, to everything. It's all part of his grandiose sense of self-esteem, which is probably masking a deeper sense of being a disappointment to his father and being riddled with envy over the relationship his father had with Kurt, and all kinds of other things. With Pellit, Seth gave me complete license to act as pathologically screwed up as possible." "Colin transformed himself so completely he"s barely recognizable," Gordon states. "He fully went for it. Audiences are going to see a whole different and very funny side to him." One thing the three employees understand, is that when it comes to getting rid of their bosses, they're smart enough to know they need help. Enter Dean 'Mutha Fucka' Jones, an ex-con with a one of a kind moniker, a flair for the dramatic and a special expertise he‘s willing to share for the right price: as soon as he decides what that might be. "Jones is kind of a self-described murder consultant, the killer confidante," 2005 Oscar winner Jamie Foxx ("Ray") revealed: "These guys come into a bar, looking for a hit man. He overhears their conversation and, knowing that they're gullible dumbasses, sees an opportunity to make some money." The production filmed in and around Los Angeles, although, as Gordon pointed out: "We tried to find great L.A. locations that people haven‘t already seen a hundred times in movies and on Television. The idea was for it to feel like it could be anywhere in America, where people are trying to pursue the American dream but getting stopped by a horrible boss." Using practical locations was part of Gordon‘s intention to anchor the story to reality. The film includes some fantasy scenes involving the guys and their horrible bosses. "There are a couple of cool fantasy sequences that involve slamming heads through glass and high falls out of windows, an exploding car, a frantic chase sequence, cars smashing head-on and all kinds of other crazy stuff, says stunt coordinator Sean Graham ("The Other Guys", "Knight and Day" & "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3"). What's It All About?

Management candidate Nick has been logging twelve hour days and eating everything his twisted boss Dave dishes out, hoping it will lead to a well-earned promotion. But now he knows that‘s never going to happen. Meanwhile, dental assistant Dale has been struggling to maintain his self-respect against the relentless X-rated advances of Dr Julia Harris, D.D.S., when she suddenly turns up the heat. Accountant Kurt has just learned that his company‘s corrupt new owner, Bobby Pellit, is not only bent on ruining his career but plans to funnel toxic waste onto an unsuspecting population. What can you do when your boss is a psycho, a man-eater or a total tool? For starters, quitting is'nt an option. These monsters must be stopped. So, on the strength of a few too many drinks and some dubious advice, they devise a convoluted, foolproof plan to rid them of their respective bosses: permanently.

The Verdict "I have to admit, ten minutes into "Horrible Bosses" and I would have gladly volunteered to bump off both Dave Harken and Bobby Pellit for free! It's a testimony as to how well Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrell portray their characters in "Horrible Bosses". And, like Nick and Kurt, I probably would have gone a little lighter on Aniston's character, Dr Julia Harris. After all, if your mate complained about being sexually harrassed by someone as hot as Aniston, you'd probably (at first), treat it as a bit of a joke. But 'ugly bosses', no matter the gender, are no laughing matter. Now I've never harbored a desire to kill any of my bosses, but I can understand there are many out there who will relate to this tale. Let me say, right from the start, that "Horrible Bosses" is not for everyone. It is pretty raunchy, splattered with the 'F' word and Jamie Foxx plays a crim whose name is Mutha Fucka Jones. 'Raunchy' seniors film sparks walkout screamed the headline. "The movie features a hooker and a nymphomaniac dentist: Grandmas aren't amused." "Eighty seniors were left perplexed last week after watching "Horrible Bosses" at a free screening for seniors at cinemas in Gladstone, about 550km north of Brisbane. Up to half the audience walked out in the first 15 minutes, a few with 'wheelie walker' mobility aids spending more time navigating the stairs than they did watching the film. Moviegoer Dianne Gibb complained 'every second word was 'F'. There was raunchy phone sex. It was not a seniors’ movie'." (Lisa Griffin August 30th 2011 in BRISBANE TIMES.) It gets worse. The Gladstone Observer Online headline read: Rude movie prompts senior walkout. "It features a hooker who specialises in golden showers and Jennifer Aniston as a nymphomaniac dentist: Grandma’s going to love it." Sixty two year old Gibb said: "There was raunchy phone sex, one character said he was going to 'slap his girlfriend in the face with his dick'. It was not a senior's movie." Fifty five year old Jenny Johnston, loved the movie. Her husband, Noel, laughed from start to finish but he wouldn’t dream of taking his mum, aged eighty four. "It’s the difference between the young elderly and the elderly, isn’t it?" Noel said. While I respect everyones right to have an opinion, it should be noted, "Horrible Bosses" is rated MA 15+. That for the uninitiated means it contains Strong sexual references and coarse language. That in itself should have set off alarm bells for anyone considering seeing the film. It's dirty! It's filthy! It's Raunchy! And while the do say FUCK a lot, it is fucking funny. So what's the verdict? I have to agree with Noel. Like him, I also laughed from start to finish. I reckon most people will too! And, my 90 year old father can't wait, to see it. Clever & funny. 4 STARS." Who Is Playing Who?

Jason Bateman Jason Sudeikis Charlie Day Kevin Spacey Colin Farrell Jennifer Aniston Jamie Foxx Lindsay Sloane Michael Albala P.J. Byrne Steve Wiebe Meghan Markle Donald Sutherland Celia Finkelstein John Daley Scott Rosendall Ioan Gruffudd

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Nick Hendricks Kurt Buckman Dale Arbus Dave Harken Bobby Pellitt Dr Julia Harris D.D.S. Dean 'Mutha Fucka' Jones Stacy Mr Anderton Kenny Sommerfeld Thomas Head of Security Jamie Jack Pellit Margie Emerman Carter Hank Preston Wetwork Man

The Production Team Directed by Seth Gordon Screenplay by Michael Markowitz/John Francis Daley/Jonathan Goldstein From a story by Michael Markowitz Produced by Brett Ratner & Jay Stern Original Music by Christopher Lennertz Director of Photography David Hennings Film Editing by Peter Teschner Casting by Lisa Beach & Sarah Katzman Production Design by Shepherd Frankel Art Direction by Jay Pelissier Set Decoration by Jan Pascale Costume Design by Carol Ramsey Run Time 98 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2011 - Roadshow Films/Warner Bros Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2011 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.