"Horrible Bosses"

Horrible Bosses - Directed by Seth Gordon, written by Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, & Jonathan Goldstein, starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, and Jamie Foxx - Rated R

Another pun-worthy title. Not even going to put up a fight: Horrible Bosses deserves the corner office and a promotion! I'm going to go throw up now...

Since The Hangover R-rated comedies have been all the rage and there have been a number of hilarious movies recently and, thankfully, Horrible Bosses can be counted among them. It’s not as funny as Bridesmaids (my favorite comedy of the year so far), but it is still very funny and worth a watch.

Horrible Bosses is a high concept comedy about three guys (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day) and their plan to kill their hated bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, and Jennifer Aniston). There are two ways for this movie to go with a plot like that. The film could be a bleak, dark comedy about murder. Or it could be an unrealistic, goofy romp. Luckily for the viewers, this movie is the latter. Horrible Bosses ends up becoming almost too ridiculous at times, but it has to be if you want the maximum amount of laughs. You really need to suspend disbelief with this one because it gets kind of stupid near the end, but it’s all good fun so it’s not that big of a deal.

The title of the film is kind of misleading in that this is not a movie about the bosses at all. The three leads make the film. Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day work great together and you can actually buy them as individual characters who seem to be real friends. With three main characters and three bosses to showcase there isn’t a lot of time to devote to individual characters but each character comes off as more than one note. Make no mistake, though, this is no character study, but the guys don’t seem like cartoon characters.

The bosses are pretty funny, too, but they aren’t featured as much as you would expect. Kevin Spacey is doing his thing as Bateman’s snarky boss. He’s great, but it’s not a stretch for him or anything. He does provide a few laughs, though. Jennifer Aniston is the weakest of the three, mainly because her laughs are derived from the shock value of Jennifer Aniston sexually harassing someone. Colin Farrell, as Sudeikis’ coke-snorting loser boss, is by far the stand out. It is very unfortunate that he didn’t get more screen time. But the moments he’s onscreen are hilarious. Farrell has been turning in some real quality work the last few years and his streak is still going strong with this one.

If all of the above names don’t have you interested, there is a very strong supporting cast as well. Jamie Foxx has a few amusing scenes as the murder consultant for the group. His name alone (which is very NSFW, by the way) spawns a funny scene that feels like improv, and that’s a compliment. Wendell Pierce (“The Wire” and “Treme”) was a nice addition as a detective. And there are a few cameos that should provide laughs. In other words, the cast of Horrible Bosses is surprisingly classy and varied.

The laughs are consistent and, more importantly, there are a variety of them. You have the funny, uncouth conversations between the main guys. There’s some drug humor thrown in there with a great cocaine scene. Some physical humor always helps as well. Basically, Horrible Bosses doesn’t rely on one single type of comedy to get you to laugh. It’s not exactly a kitchen sink approach, though, because all of the attempts are honestly funny. Variety is the spice of life and that certainly applies to comedies as well.

Horrible Bosses isn’t a classic comedy or anything, though. It does miss here and there. And it does get flat out stupid in the end. The ending of the movie seems very hastily put together. There are plenty of laughs before the movie nearly derails in the end, but some may get tired of it. Plus, this film won’t be remembered as some comedy classic of the decade. It’s funny and it’s worth the price of a ticket, but not many people are going to recommend it years from now. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you hold your comedies to a higher standard you might not like this one very much.

Horrible Bosses is a very good summer comedy that should keep things funny in the midst of all the big blockbusters. Will you quote it years from now? No way. But it should have you laughing right now and that’s enough. Comedy can’t always be art or even lasting, but if it makes you laugh for your money, then that makes it worth it.

Random Thoughts (SPOILERS)

All I have to add on this one concerns all of the cameos. First off, Bob Newhart
popping up at the end was kind of odd since the man isn't exactly a relevant face in comedy these days. I imagine younger viewers won't even recognize him.

Speaking of relevant faces, it was strange to see Donald Sutherland in a single early scene. I think he's great, but along with the Newhart appearance, they make for a couple weird cameos in a movie otherwise filled with contemporary comedy stars.

Not sure if an appearance from Ioan Gruffudd constitutes as a cameo, but I thought he was funny in his scene about "wet work."

And finally, Ron White pops up as Wendell Pierce's partner. Haven't seen him in anything besides stand-up specials so it was cool to see him in there.

"Paul"

Paul - Directed by Greg Mottola, written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, starring Pegg, Frost, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio, Blythe Danner, John Carroll Lynch, and Seth Rogen - Rated R

The Evil Kurgan is not a geek, but he understands what geeks (especially the critic on this site) like and Paul gets his endorsement.

There is no shortage of alien films coming out of Hollywood these days. Cinemagoers have always been interested in the possibility of alien life forms showing up on our planet. Usually they want to kill all of us, sometimes for no reason at all. Less often, they turn out to be lovable creatures that are so cuddly and safe that they end being friends with your children. So why do we need any more alien movies at all since it’s been done to death? Well, there hasn’t really been an attempt to openly create an R-rated buddy-alien movie aimed directly at geeks. That might be a niche market, but the end result, Paul, is very enjoyable one, potentially for more than just the dorks among us.

Paul is basically a buddy road trip movie. Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are two Brits who have traveled to America to go to Comic-Con and a tour of all the extraterrestrial hot spots in the southwest. Things go awry when they come across an actual extraterrestrial: Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen). After that, their trip isn’t a vacation; it’s a mission. And along the way they encounter all manner of different characters like religious fanatics, inept government agents, and rednecks.

This film is first and foremost a movie for people of the same ilk as Graeme and Clive. Not British, but the type of people who would go to Comic-Con. Paul is filled with references to geeky pop culture: Klingon is spoken, there are Star Wars references galore, a certain heroine from a classic sci-fi flick shows up, etc. In short, this is an alien movie that acknowledges all other alien movies. If you’re into those kinds of movies, you’re more likely to enjoy this one than most people. But there is still plenty of comedy for all.

Paul features enough standard comedy fare to keep the less geeky audience members laughing as well. There are the standard physical comedy bits, but the film mainly relies on its R-rating to bring the laughs. Foul language can sometimes be seen as a crutch for comedy, but this film features the hilarious gimmick of a reformed goody two-shoes trying to improvise cuss words. That bit might get stale for some, but it worked throughout for this reviewer.

Even if some of the bits don’t knock it out of the park for some, the cast should be able to elevate the material. Pegg and Frost have been working together for years (and are actual best friends in real life) so they completely work as a comedic duo (and it helps that they served as screenwriters on this one). Rogen brings an interesting voice to the alien that is consistently amusing. Kristen Wiig was hilarious as the aforementioned improvisational foul mouth. Jason Bateman is solid as the determined agent, but his role is really elevated by dealing with his halfwit underlings, played by Joe Lo Truglio and Bill Hader. There are more, but you get the idea: the cast is strong with this one.

Perhaps the most important element of the film, though, is Paul himself. The alien is computer generated but he felt like an onscreen presence throughout. It would have been devastating to the film if Paul came across as overtly fake. Also, his design might leave a bit to be desired, but the screenplay has a great element that takes care of that. It turns out that the government has slowly been leaking Paul’s identity through pop culture to make it easier on the public if the alien is ever revealed, which explains why Paul looks like such a clichéd alien. That also opens the script up to make many more pop culture references as Paul claims ownership to countless classic sci-fi moments.

Paul is far from perfect, though. The rednecks and religious fanatics mentioned above are kind of weak villains. Their complete idiocy gives this film an overly atheist and liberal feel. This isn’t a film to get bent out of shape over, though, so you should be able to ignore it. But some people have strong feelings about some of the religious topics brought up and could potentially be offended. None of that stuff really bothered me. The issue I had with the film was that it started off quite weak and a little too goofy. And even though the film has dozens of pop culture references, it seemed like the filmmakers were toning it down a bit for fear of (no pun intended) alienating their audience. But that is a minor nit to pick, to be sure.

Paul is a comedy aimed at the geeks among us, but there is enough here to keep most people entertained. Aliens don’t always have to show up to kill us. Sometimes they just want to make us laugh. Fortunately, Paul does just that.

Random Thoughts (SPOILERS)

Just wanted to point out a few references I enjoyed:

The cantina music is the road house was great.

It was a nice reference when Bateman shot his radio and said, "Boring conversation anyway."

It was hilarious when Pegg and Frost recreated an alien fight from the original "Star Trek" TV show.

Frost's ewok fetish...

I dug the E.T. jokes, and it was very cool that Spielberg lent his voice the film.

Sigourney Weaver was borderline cheesy, but it was still cool to see her in this.

Some Indiana Jones references were amusing, like Bateman calling Paul “Short Round” and Paul hanging out in the warehouse from Raiders.

Of course, there had to be Close Encounters of the Third Kind references and they worked as part of the plot device that Paul has actually had a hand in creating all of these classic sci-fi films we love.

Finally, there's no reference to this, but Paul is kind of like Roger from "American Dad," except not nearly as cynical, sadistic, or sociopathic. I don't see this as a ripoff of that character or anything, but I do find some similarities, especially when they have to disguise Paul as a cowboy.