We’re heading towards a veritable cluster-fuck of foul-mouthed comedies this summer, with “Bridesmaids” already picking up good buzz from SXSW, and “The Hangover 2” following swiftly behind, with “The Change-Up,” “30 Minutes or Less,” “Friends With Benefits” and “Bad Teacher” bringing up the rear. We’ve seen glimpses of most of these now, but there’s one more in the pack as well, and it might actually be the most promising of them all.
Warner Bros‘ “Horrible Bosses” sees “The King of Kong” director Seth Gordon working from a script from hot comedy scribes Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (“The $40000 Man,” “Burt Wonderstone“), which involves three friends, tormented at work who decide to kill off their very different, but equally unpleasant employers. A highly promising comedy cast has been assembled, with a trio of leads all on the verge of the big time in Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” break-out Charlie Day, facing off against their respective bosses: Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Jamie Foxx (as the colorfully named Motherfucker Jones), Donald Sutherland, Old Spice spokesman Isaiah Mustafa, and “Modern Family“‘s Julie Bowen are also on board, and the script’s excellent — if the film can fight off its tough competition, it’s got all the signs of being the big comedy breakout of the summer.
The new issue of EW (print edition, not yet online) has the first look at the film’s cast, and the titular horrible bosses — above is Kevin Spacey‘s Harken, the very worst of the three, vying with his underling, Nick (Bateman), and his friend Dale (Day). Below, is Dale’s boss Julia (Jennifer Aniston), a nymphomaniac dentist, and finally Kurt (Sudeikis)’s nemesis, Bobby (Farrell), the coke-addled son of his beloved mentor Jack (Sutherland). All three employers are perfectly cast, and we’re particularly looking forward to Farrell’s balding get-up.
We imagine this is the start of the film’s marketing campaign, and we’re likely to see a trailer sooner rather than later — while Warners are certain to piggyback the film off the certain-to-be-a-megahit-even-though-it-looks-like-warmed-up-shit “The Hangover Part II,” they won’t want to wait another six weeks to debut a clip, so we’d expect to see the first footage in the next couple of weeks. “Horrible Bosses” opens on July 8th, opposite the family-friendly Kevin James vehicle “The Zookeeper.”