Horrible Bosses 2 Blu-ray Review
The recipe for 2011’s HORRIBLE BOSSES was pretty simple; take three naturally funny guys and have them square off against three traditionally dramatic actors in crazy roles. The result was a fun, often hilarious ride that was completely unbelievable, but easy to get behind. Naturally, a sequel was started and that created some challenges for the filmmakers. If we just suspend reality for a second and accept that Nick (Bateman), Kurt (Sudeikis) and Dale (Day) can find themselves in another criminal situation, we’re still left with the problem that they need someone to go up against. And there’s the one glaring problem with HORRIBLE BOSSES 2; it lacked the best part of the original, which were the crazy “villains”.
After surviving their botched attempts to murder their bosses, Nick, Kurt and Dale decide to go into business for themselves and have invented the Shower Buddy. But they need an investor to get them started and that leads them to Bert (Christoph Waltz) and Rex (Chris Pine) Hanson, a father-son team running one of the biggest order catalogs around. Bert agrees to buy 100,000 units and that sets the trio of friends to take out a loan, rent a warehouse, hire workers and build the units. But when it comes time to pay up, Bert pulls out and forces the trio to face foreclosure, where he can take over the company. Murder is out of the question, so this go around the trio settle on kidnapping Rex and holding him ransom.
Of course, the kidnapping is a complete cluster, but when Rex finds out about it, he decides he wants in on it and for most of the movie, he’s the ringleader with the trio of friends dragging behind. The trio actually have a good rapport with Rex and there were plenty of funny moments where they started to look up to him because of how charming and convincing he was. But the problem is that Rex was really the only interaction they had with opposition and we needed more. Christoph Waltz was a complete waste and Jennifer Aniston showed up a few times to add some sexual humor, but even she and Jamie Foxx seemed out of place in the sequel. The trio interacting together is moderately funny, but the trio interacting with other people is hilarious. Unfortunately, the sequel kind of got away from that.
The sequel is also about 20 minutes too long. When you have a ridiculous premise and great comedians, you have to keep the movie rolling from one joke to the next. HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 isn’t going to survive on its plot alone, so it was disappointing that it spent too much time not being funny. That said, the good news about the movie is that you’re going to be right more often than not just by sticking Bateman, Sudeikis and Day in the same room together. They’re all very funny guys and they’re talented enough to give plenty of chuckle-worthy moments, even if the movie as a whole is light on laugh-out-loud scenes.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 looks great on Blu-ray, featuring plenty of nice, vibrant colors
Audio: The audio was fine.
Endless Laughter Guaranteed (16:58): Everyone shows up to talk about how great the main trio are and how much they improve-ed and joked around on set.
Off the Cuff: One-Liners You Didn’t See (17:56): 13 scenes total, all featuring random improv lines from the cast.
High Speed Crash Course (3:01): A closer look at the film’s car chase.
Let the Sexual Healing Begin (2:02): An ad for Dr. Harris’ (Jennifer Aniston) sex addiction group.
Who Invented the Shower Buddy (1:59): A look at the running argument as to who invented the shower buddy.
Nick Kurt Dale Inc: Employee Testimonials (2:00): Three of the group’s employees talk about their bosses.