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.

This Is Where I Leave You... A Little Too Crowded...

I'm not gonna dance around the issue, This is Where I Leave You is not really an ensemble film. But it's cast as if it is one.

Shawn Levy put together an interesting film contemplating life, death, and family. He created an element of heart and meaning, and got some pretty fun albeit rather forced performances from his cast. So in my estimation, he didn't fail with This is Where I Leave You. He just made a film with too much going on... to such a degree that I as an audience member didn't really know what to care about or focus on at any given time.

Shortly after Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) discovers his wife has been cheating on him with his boss, his sister (Tina Fey) calls him up to tell him their father has died. Talk about a bad month. So Judd goes back home for the service and his mother (Jane Fonda) springs it on him that his father wanted all of the siblings to sit shiva... seven days with your dysfunctional family... sounds like fun, huh?

In truth, the only real constant is Jason Bateman. And that's because he is absolutely the lead of this film. Which is strange given the massive cast Levy surrounded him with. Jane Fonda, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant, and Dax Shepard... You should know all of these names pretty well at this point. And while I do really like Jason Bateman, I was left wondering why more attention wasn't paid to other cast members... or more importantly, why were they all there if it was so clearly meant to be a Jason Bateman vehicle?

I think that This is Where I Leave You's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. An all-star cast can sometimes be a burden on a production. And in the end, the weight of too many bigger-than-life performers was too much for this movie to bear. This is not to say I didn't enjoy the movie, rather I think it could have been a much stronger film than it was if only it had been pared down a bit. One character less would honestly have helped... Two and this may have even been on par with The Big Chill... probably the best film in this particular sub-genre.

That being said, I wouldn't turn you away from This is Where I Leave You. It's good enough and you'll probably have a good time... Just recognize it's not going to be a perfect movie... which is fine. That's a pretty rare thing to find anyway: a perfect movie.

A Few Nice Words About Jason Bateman's Bad Words

Jason Bateman has officially directed his first feature film...

And it ain't half bad. Actually, I found myself really enjoying Bad Words; also the first screenplay credit for newcomer Andrew Dodge. It's not that it was game changing, or wildly inventive. It was just a well made movie with the temperament of Bad Santa... but not nearly as filthy and with a considerably better pay off at the end. No, I think Bad Words was just solid. It played with the idea of this adult who seems to hate everyone and everything and joins a Spelling Bee because the rules are out of date and easily loopholed just to get a chance to... well actually I don't wanna spoil any of the fun.

Bad Words moves very well. At no point did I feel like a shot didn't belong or an edit was out of place (a frequent problem with first time directors). In point of fact, the movie was fluid and looked great. The actors were on point and Jason Bateman really found a script that played to his personal strengths. Every moment of his is well timed and it just makes me wish that other projects he becomes a part of in the future allow him this kind of room to play.

Rohan Chand did his job with clever abandon. It's so fun to watch a kid at his age, 10 now, really play so well off of an adult. He's really the second lead and should be credited as such. Kathryn Hahn was fine, but nothing particularly special. But when Allison Janney came on screen I knew this was gonna be a good time. Her role was so well defined in just limited time. Same goes for Philip Baker Hall. The man was honestly perfect for this role.

It's so nice walking into a theatre without any expectations, knowing practically nothing beforehand, and coming back out having seen a quality film. 2014 is just getting started, but Bad Words is a welcome change of pace coming out of the dead season post winter break.