Horrible Bosses 2 Can't Escape Its Predecessor's Mistakes

You know, it's amazing to me that Horrible Bosses got a sequel at all. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy aspects of that original movie, I was just always under the impression that everybody thought of it as just so-so. But they made a sequel anyway.

Horrible Bosses 2 picks up a little while after the first flick. The guys (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day) are actively trying to start their own business and really do have a shot with an appearance on a morning show looming. When the son (Chris Pine) of an owner (Christoph Waltz) of a prestigious catalog calls them up offering to buy them out, the guys take a moral stand.. as they say, never wanting to have to work for a horrible boss ever again. But that seems to back fire when the catalog pulls out of the deal at the last second intent on buying up the foreclosed property for pennies. So the guys decide to do something drastic.

I don't hate this setup. There's something really charming about it... timely as well. And honestly I don't feel like this flick tries as hard as other comedy sequels do to rehash the same jokes from the original... with the exception of MF Jones (Jamie Foxx). However, that doesn't fix the core of what Horrible Bosses wants to be (and thinks it is) as a franchise. It's got three capable actors in Bateman, Day, and Sudeikis... though the latter's films usually tend to disappoint leaving him blowing in the wind for another crappy gross comedy (ie. Hall Pass, We're The Millers). And far too often the filmmakers have to rely on these guys to just have a good time in front of the camera because it seems there's not enough "funny" inherent in the script. This really does go for both flicks even though they had completely different creative teams behind them.

Based on the lack of audience interest in the property, I can only imagine New Line doesn't bring us a Horrible Bosses 3. Though, studios do have a tendency these days of beating a dead horse in the hopes it'll get up and carry them the rest of the way through the desert that has been the creative market since superhero movies really took off.

Horrible Bosses 2 wasn't bad. There were moments when I actively laughed with the rest of the very small audience. But in the end, it feels like more filler. Better than Dumb and Dumber To, but that's not saying much of anything. If you just want to giggle, but don't care much how you get there, this'd be an alright choice.