Following the misadventures of Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) in the misanthropic Horrible Bosses—a film in which, Strangers on a Train-style, the protagonists decide to kill each other’s employers—Nick, Kurt, and Dale are now the bosses.
They’ve designed a bizarre device for the shower that spurts shampoo into your hair. The product, and the decision made by the trio to manufacture the thing in America, wows Bert Hanson (Christoph Waltz), the owner of a Sky Mall-style catalog. He orders a hundred thousand units, inspiring our heroes to take a bridge loan to finance the run.
Bert stabs them in the back, however, canceling the order on the assumption that they won’t be able to pay back the loan (they can’t) and that after going bankrupt he will not only be able to buy their completed order for pennies on the dollar, he’ll own the patent too.
Having learned nothing, Nick, Kurt, and Dale decide to kidnap Bert’s son, Rex (Chris Pine), and ransom him for $5 million. Needless to say, nothing goes according to plan.
The cast is top notch. Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day are three of the funniest actors working. Bateman’s straight-man shtick complements perfectly Sudeikis and Day’s wilder antics. Christoph Waltz, best known as the muse of late-stage Tarantino, can inspire laughter with little more than a twitch of his eye or a roll of the shoulder. And Pine’s frat boy dude bro routine renders him eminently punchable, in a good way.
The supporting cast kills it too. Jennifer Aniston reprises her role as Dale’s sex-addled boss. Kevin Spacey shows up for a couple of key scenes. Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx shows up again.
Everybody in this cast is hilarious. I love them all. If only they had been given better stuff to work with.
Horrible Bosses 2 will inspire some laughter, including the occasional deep belly laugh. But it fails in that, much like its progenitor, it is wholly unmemorable.
Indeed, I am having trouble calling to mind a single gag from any of its 108 minutes. My notes, such as the single-word "Murder!" four lines down, aren’t much help.
So it was pretty okay, I guess. You’ll mostly enjoy it and then forget about it. Maybe you’ll catch a scene or two on HBO in a few months and say to yourself, "Oh yes: the joke about the company name that sounded like a racial slur. How droll."
It’s not the best movie out now, but it’s not the worst either. If you want to define Hollywood mediocrity, it might look something like Horrible Bosses 2: competently shot and effectively executed, but utterly lacking in soul or verve or originality.