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Taking a deeper look at current and past films and how they relate to the world today.

Jonathan Kim is an independent film critic who writes and produces film reviews for Uprising and other outlets. He is a former co-producer at Brave New Films.

Read his reviews online at ReThinkReviews.net. Watch his videos at www.youtube.com/user/jsjkim, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReThinkReviews. ReThink Reviews’ theme song is by Restavrant.

Horrible Bosses

With CEO pay rising as their employees’ see wages stagnate, benefits slashed, unions decimated, and work hours reduced or totally eliminated, it seems like the perfect time for a good revenge fantasy directed at the bosses of America. Unfortunately, what we have instead is “Horrible Bosses”, which is kind of a riff on the Alfred Hitchcock film “Strangers On A Train”, as well as the underrated 1987 film “Throw Momma From the Train”, both of which “Horrible Bosses” references.

This incarnation finds three long-time friends whose disgruntlement leads them to agree to murder each others bosses, an endeavor they never seem to treat seriously. Nick, played by Jason Bateman, has spent years absorbing abuse from his sadistic boss (played by Kevin Spacey), with the understanding that it will eventually lead to a well-deserved promotion.

Dale, a happily engaged dental assistant (played by Charlie Day), is sexually harassed constantly by his sex-crazed boss, played by Jennifer Aniston. Kurt, played by Jason Sudeikis, loves his boss and his job as an account manager at a chemical company. But things go south quickly when his boss’ cokehead son, played by Colin Farrell in a balding wig, is put in charge with plans of stealing as much money as he can and running the company into the ground.

So maybe they’re not capital offenses, but you get the idea. So with a cast this good, what could go wrong? Turns out, a lot. That’s because ‘Horrible Bosses’ is predicated on the idea that Nick, Dale and Kurt, despite being adults with good professional jobs, are unbelievably stupid, evidenced by the way they go about nearly every aspect of their supposed murder plot, first by looking for a hitman on Craigslist, then by asking if anyone in a crowded bar is a contract killer.

Despite the gravity of their task, the three guys seem strangely uninterested in doing any real planning to make sure they don’t get caught or even know what they’re doing, leaving most of the plotting to a shady stranger, played by Jamie Foxx. This leads to a movie that’s roughly 80% bumbling, which loses its charm very quickly, especially since two of the bosses could be easily dispatched through lawsuits with abundant evidence provided.

Aniston’s foul-mouthed, lascivious, sometimes nearly nude performance has been given the “raunchy” designation, generally identified by the presence of frivolous female sexuality. But more damaging than the fact that most men, to be honest, would hardly consider Jennifer Aniston’s advances to be an executable offense, is the fact that her character is cartoonish and unrealistic, as are virtually all of the film’s thinly drawn characters, where most of the humor comes intermittently through riffing, crosstalk, improvising and asides rather than well written jokes and truly funny situations.

Many would say that “Horrible Bosses” is the kind of movie that requires viewers to check their brains at the door and give in to the silliness, but that’s not true. The afore-referenced ‘Throw Momma From the Train’ is a wonderful example of a comedy with two fully realized characters understanding the severity of their murder pact. Wes Anderson’s excellent first film, ‘Bottle Rocket’, shows how you can bring humor and emotion to a story of innocents naively attempting to enter a world of crime.

While the actors appeared to have a good time making this film, I didn’t much enjoy watching it. So I’d be skeptical of claims that “Horrible Bosses” is some sort of new, screwball, I dare say raunchy classic. After all, classic films rarely require brain removal.

“Horrible Bosses” is rated R and is in theaters today.