Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses - Dir. Seth Gordon (2011)

This summer has been the season for raunchy comedies. The Hangover Part II is one of the highest grossing films of the year, despite a severe critical lashing. Bridesmaids is in the top ten for domestic grosses and received far more critical praise. The summer has also yielded Bad Teacher, the upcoming body switch laugher The Change-Up, and the workplace comedy Horrible Bosses.

Horrible Bosses plays into the dark fantasies we've all had about gaining a measure of revenge against an abusive supervisor. It also touches upon the frustrations that have been cultivated by the turbulent economic climate. However, don't expect a sharp treatise that handles those themes with a wry intelligence. Horrible Bosses earns its R rating by being a silly and profane comedy.

Jason Bateman is Nick Hendricks, a white-collar worker at a financial firm under the tyrannical reign of Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey). Harken represents the worst aspects of the corporate world. He dangles and denies a vital promotion to Nick, then laughs about his dead grandmother. Jason Sudeikis is Kurt Buckman, an account manager for a chemical company. Unlike his buddies, Kurt actually loves his job probably because he works for kindly Donald Sutherland. Unfortunately, the old man dies of a heart attack leaving the company in the hands of his odious sleazebag son. Not Kiefer, but Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell sporting a beer belly and a comb-over). Bobby plans on running his dad's legacy into the ground to feed his appetite for cocaine and hookers. Finally, there's Dale Arbus, a chaste dental assistant, who suffers from daily sexual harassment from his nymphomaniac boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston).

All three buddies have their reasons for not simply quitting their jobs. Harken promises to blackball Nick from the industry should be leave. Kurt doesn't want to see Bobby destroy the company. Dr. Julia has taken pictures of herself molesting an unconscious Dale and threatens to show them to his fiancée (Lindsay Sloane). Poor Dale is also a registered sex offender, the reasons for which are too funny to spoil.

After reaching their breaking point, the protagonists decide to kill their bosses. Of course, none of them have any clue about how to do that. Kurt comes up with the harebrained scheme of going into a bar in East L.A. and ask around. They meet an ex-con named Dean "Motherfucker" Jones (Jamie Foxx), who agrees to be their murder consultant.

Anybody who has ever watched an episode of CSI will figure out their plans aren't likely to be successful. What follows is a farcical series of events as these frat pack Three Stooges fumble their way through their half-assed murder plots. It is the interactions between the leads that sells Horrible Bosses. None of the main actors are doing anything new. Bateman reprises the role of the exasperated everyman he has portrayed since his comeback on Arrested Development. Sudeikis is doing his horndog shtick though Horrible Bosses is a better showcase for his comedic skills than the Farrelly Brothers' inert Hall Pass. Meanwhile, Day is basically reprising his role from FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Day also provides some of the funniest moments of the movie from his manic motions after accidentally breathing in Bobby's coke stash to singing the Ting Ting's "That's Not My Name" while alone in a car.

Day's performance also saves his particular subplot, which might be the most tenuous of them all. Let's face it, Aniston's perpetually horny cougar is the dream boss for any heterosexual male. But, Day imbues Dale with a dim-witted naiveté that makes it somewhat believable for him to be offended by Julia's advances. For Aniston, this is a drastic departure from her usual girl-next-door roles. It's not exactly the most nuanced character or the most politically correct, but she plays it with gusto. To no one's surprise, Kevin Spacey turns in a solid performance as an asshole boss, a return to his Buddy Ackerman from Swimming with Sharks with a dash of John Williamson from Glengarry Glen Ross. Colin Farrell is sadly short-changed in screen time. He is wonderfully over-the-top.

The film is competently directed by Seth Gordon, who made his debut with the excellent documentary King of Kong. He has since turned into a director of slick Hollywood comedies.

Horrible Bosses is a safe, mainstream Hollywood picture masquerading as an edgy black comedy. The characters are cartoonish and the plot moves ahead through a series of sitcom contrivances. But, it's entertaining and humorous enough to warrant at least a rental.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

The Mechanic

The Mechanic - Dir. Simon West (2011)

CBS Films is quickly carving themselves a little niche for old school action movies. Last fall, they released the 70's revenge throwback, Faster, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. It was a marked departure from their first two productions, the medical drama Extraordinary Measures and the Jennifer Lopez rom-com, The Back-Up Plan. CBS follows up Faster with The Mechanic, a remake of the 1972 picture directed by Michael Winner and starring Charles Bronson. The original film was a warm-up for Winner and Bronson's more renowned Death Wish franchise. It did feature a classic 15-minute, dialogue free opening with Bronson preparing an elaborate set-up to kill his target.

This time around, Jason Statham takes on the role of Arthur Bishop, an assassin who kills his targets in intricate fashion to prevent anyone from knowing he was ever there in the first place. Bishop isn't your average thug, he's a high-class aesthete. He lives in an ultra-modern home tucked away in the bayous outside New Orleans and listens to Schubert…on vinyl, no less. Bishop and his best friend and mentor, Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland, in an all-too brief role) are both in the employ of a shadowy organization that is nice enough to only murder unsavory folks like drug lords and arms dealers.

Everything changes when Bishop's boss, Mr. Dean (Tony Goldwyn), orders Bishop to take out Harry when it is revealed he has double-crossed the organization. He reluctantly pulls the trigger and winds up becoming the mentor of Harry's wayward son, Steve (Ben Foster). Steve is trained in the art of contract killing, but lacks Bishop's patience and discipline. His sloppiness sinks what should have been clean, simple jobs. Not to mention, there's that thing about Bishop killing Steve's dad.

The original Mechanic was a slight attempt at emulating the philosophical crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville. This new version doesn't even bother to engage on more thoughtful levels. So don't expect The Mechanic to come anywhere close to the existential hitman movie that The American was. The remake isn't about belly gazing and contemplations about solitude, it's all about explosions and bone-crunching fist fights. Sometimes that's not a bad thing.

The Mechanic is the prototypical Jason Statham actioner and fits nicely into his oeuvre alongside the Crank and Transporter franchises. Statham is probably the closest thing we have to a modern-day Charles Bronson. He has a steely gaze, a unique voice, and is wholly believable as a stone cold badass (though only Danny Trejo can match Bronson's craggly visage). No slouch in the intensity department, Ben Foster matches up well to Statham as his livewire protégé. You wonder if they ever have staring contests with each other or see who can grow the cooler looking stubble. There's no denying the film has a rather palpable homoerotic subtext riding through the narrative, especially considering there are no substantial characters of the female persuasion. The screenplay by Richard Wenk and Lewis John Carlino (who also penned the original) makes sure to undercut this by having Bishop frequenting the classy call girl with a heart of gold.

The action scenes are well done without descending into a seizure-inducing series of overly edited shaky camera shots. Two of the highlights include a brutal fight scene between Foster and a rival, 6'7 hitman and a rooftop shootout that ends with the protagonists repelling down the side of a skyscraper. The set pieces still tend to be a little too hyperactive; this is after all a Simon West movie. The story is clichéd and predictable with a late plot twist done in the laziest of manners. It does, however, contain a very funny one-liner uttered by Tony Goldwyn in which he menacingly declares to Bishop, "I'm going to put a price on your head so big that when you look in the mirror, your reflection is gonna want to shoot you in the face."

Rating: ** (*****)

Pride & Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice - Dir. Joe Wright (2005)


The works of Jane Austen have been translated for film and television numerous times. Some of which include: Ang Lee's Sense & Sensibility and Clueless, a modern update of Emma. Of all her novels, Pride & Prejudice is the most often adapted. There was a 1940 version starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, a Bollywood version called Bride & Prejudice, and several BBC miniseries, the best of which is the one from 1995 with Colin Firth. It was Firth's performance in that particular version that lead to him being cast in the Pride & Prejudice-inspired Bridget Jones's Diary, in pretty much the same role, no less.

This latest attempt casts Keira Knightley in the role of Elizabeth Bennet, the second eldest of five sisters. Elizabeth is intelligent and not afraid to speak her mind, unlike most of the women of her time. Her oldest sister is Jane (Rosamund Pike), who is considered to be the most beautiful. Mary (Talulah Riley) is the quiet, middle sister, more concerned with books and the piano than socializing. The youngest of the bunch is Lydia, played by Jena Malone, one of the few Americans in the production. Lydia is, perhaps, too fun-loving for her own good and she's always followed around by Kitty. Their mother, Mrs. Bennet (Brenda Blethyn), spends her day trying to find suitable husbands for all her daughters, especially in light of their financial situation. Without a son, the estate of Mr. Bennet (Donald Sutherland) will be passed onto a cousin, leaving the Bennet women without a home.

Things look up with the arrival of Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), who hits it off right away with Jane. The same can't be said for Elizabeth and Bingley's friend, Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfayden), his arrogant and curt attitude rub her the wrong way. Elizabeth confesses, "I swore to loathe him for eternity." Of course, this is movie talk for, "I am madly in love with him and we will be together before the credits roll."

Darcy isn't the only one to get underneath Elizabeth's skin. Much to her dismay, she is courted by the diminutive Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander), the cousin that stands to inherit her home. Despite her mother's wishes, Elizabeth has no interest whatsoever in Mr. Collins. Spurned, Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte Lucas (Claudie Blakely), who agrees as her family needs the money and at the age of 27 (a spinster in her era), she cannot expect another offer as good. It's an emotional moment that could have been more effective had her character been developed more.

Even at a length of over two hours, Pride & Prejudice isn't able to devote the time it needs to the multitude of characters and subplots. While it's hard to keep things straight sometimes, it's a small gripe considering how well-made the film is. This is, by far, the most gorgeous looking of all the Jane Austen movies which culminates with a rendezvous at dusk between Elizabeth and Darcy. This is a great accomplishment for director Joe Wright, who had previously worked in TV before making his feature film debut with Pride & Prejudice.

Wright uses a moving master shot at the start of the film to introduce us to the Bennet household. He uses an even better one during a ballroom scene. The camera seamlessly moves throughout the mansion as it follows one character to the next and so on. It's no wonder that Wright has garnered some impressive accolades for his work. He was chosen as Best New Filmmaker by the Boston Society of Film Critics, British Director of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards, and won the Carl Foreman Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the BAFTAs.

Speaking of awards, Keira Knightley has gained her own recognition for her performance as she snagged nominations for Best Actress at the Golden Globes and Oscars. As Elizabeth, she continues playing the tomboyish characters that she's done so often. Yet, at the same time, she is able to do more than the superficial macho posturing that was done in King Arthur or Domino. There's a splendid scene where the camera pans around Elizabeth as she comes to the realization of how much she truly loves Darcy, while she is staring at a bust of him. And I think it goes without saying that Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench are wonderful in their roles.

Pride & Prejudice is a solid film enhanced by a cast of great actors and a talented, young director.

Rating: ***

Astro Boy

Astro Boy - Dir. David Bowers (2009)


Osamu Tezuka has widely been considered to be the god of manga. His dynamic art style and penchant for drawing characters with large, expressive eyes are the images immediately associated with Japanese comics and animation. One of Tezuka’s most beloved creations was the rocket-propelled robot, Astro Boy, who starred in a long-running manga series and several animated shows. Unfortunately, whatever charms Astro Boy possessed were lost in translation for Summit Entertainment’s CG remake.

Set in the year 2108, a privileged few live in the shining metropolis of Metro City, a high-tech city floating above Earth where robots serve the human population. In other words, they live just like the Jetsons. One of the most brilliant minds in Metro City is Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), the head of the Ministry of Science. Along with Dr. Elefun (Bill Nighy), Tenma works under the auspices of the militaristic President Stone (Donald Sutherland) who is constantly ready to go to war.

Tenma has recently discovered a blue energy source and its opposite and far more unstable red energy. While experimenting with the latter, a tragic accident occurs when Tenma’s son, Toby (Freddie Highmore), is completely vaporized. A mournful father tries to replace his dead child by creating a robot duplicate who, at first, believes he is the real Toby. Soon, Tenma realizes Astro Boy will never be able to replace Toby and casts him out just as Pres. Stone demands he be turned over to create new weapons. Astro Boy is cast out and falls to the world below where he’s taken in by a group of orphans scavenging the scraps tossed away by Metro City.

Animation-wise, Astro Boy has been crafted well with some cool visuals and action sequences. However, it lacks any discernable style or charm to set it apart from the rest of the computer animated films being pumped out every year. It doesn’t have the uniqueness or depth that Pixar has achieved on countless occasions. The quirky and squat look of Tezuka’s characters has been washed away in order to placate mainstream Western audiences. The big eyes are gone, but the machine guns in his buttocks are still there.

The formulaic plot is further hampered by heavy-handed political overtones pounded in with the hammer of obviousness. President Stone is pure Neo-Con odiousness who dismisses the namby pamby blue energy for the ruthless and erratic red.

Astro Boy is bland, inoffensive entertainment, but you could do better watching the works of Miyazaki or Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant.

Rating: **