HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 - REVIEW

If there was one comedy I was not expecting to ever get a sequel, it was Horrible Bosses. Armed with a fun, clever concept and a strong cast, the film still somehow managed to be very uneven and instantly forgettable.

So now we have Horrible Bosses 2 and our moronic trio are back with yet another unlikely plan involving, albeit rather indirectly, some horrible bosses. The plot sees Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day try to sell a new product of their conception called "The Shower Buddy" to a big company run by an intimidating Christoph Waltz and his spoilt, twisted son, an almost show-stealing Chris Pine. Of course, the gang are soon tricked into being ruined and selling their product for cheap to Waltz and they are soon plotting their revenge. Murder isn't so much on their mind this time as they turn their intention towards kidnapping.

Or "kidnaping", rather.

What follows is a series of nifty twists and turns as Pine gets involved in their revenge mission and the plan becomes more and more intricate. Both Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston are back as well, the former with little more than an extended cameo and the latter with a wholly unnecessary subplot. At least Jamie Foxx's character is of more use to the actual storyline by the end. Once again, this is an uneven movie with a handful of jokes hitting the mark but many others feeling much too easy and falling flat. Mostly, we're left to listen to Day and Sudeikis speak over each other loudly and constantly, which was one of the more annoying aspects of the first film. This sequel does get some points for at least trying something a little different and including a couple of entertaining new elements to an essentially pretty paper-thin thread.

As pointless of a sequel as this is, it isn't quite the disaster you'd expect from a follow-up to a dangerously average comedy no-one remembered after watching it. That said, it's still hardly inspired and lacks some big laughs.

Harmless/mindless time-waster.