Horrible Bosses - Blu-ray Review

3.8 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis

Disgruntled buddies Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) can't leave their miserable jobs, so they cook up a creative strategy for eliminating each other's micromanaging and maniacal employers (Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey) instead in this crackpot comedy. Peculiar advice from con artist Motherf**ker Jones (Jamie Foxx) gets the scheme in motion, but the pals can't keep the wheels from flying off. Buy Now $24.99

Listen to the Audio Review

Starring:

Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Julie Bowen, Donald Sutherland, Lindsay Sloane

Director:

Seth Gordon

Blu-ray Release Date:

October 11, 2011

Subtitles:

English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

• Subwoofer - 3.5 Stars
• Dialog - 4.5 Stars
• Surround Effects - 2.0 Stars
• Dynamic Range - 4.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1

Most of the audio action in Horrible Bosses happens in the front channels. The rear speakers only open up when music plays and during a car chase. I know most comedies don't have much going on in the audio department, but this film had legitimate reasons to possess some acoustic panache, and failed to show off. The dialog performance was great except it gets lost in the mix during one action sequence. The subwoofer comes to life a few times during a few minor action beats, and during some music selections.

Video  4.6 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

• Color Accuracy  - 4.5 Stars
• Shadow detail - 4.0 Stars
• Clarity - 5.0 Stars
• Skin tones - 4.5 Stars
• Compression - 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Horrible Bosses does not have horrible a video presentation. The clarity is crisp and allows minute details to be easily seen. Fancy suit pinstripes, wrinkles, loose hairs, clothing textures, and greasy comb-overs all can be seen in crisp detail in all it's 1080p glory. The film grain is light and helps take some of the harshness out of the video.  The colors are a little warm and help the movie come to life. Sometimes skin tones look a little too red, but it's not overbearing. The biggest problem is the darkness. There is a surprising amount of dark scenes in the film and the darkness crushes the colors at times and looses too much detail.

Bonus Features 3.0 Stars (out of 5)

• Theatrical and Extended Versions: There are 2 versions of the film and they're available on the 3-disc Totally Inappropriate Edition.
• My Least Favorite Career (HD, 5 minutes): The cast and director discuss their horrible bosses.
• Surviving a Horrible Boss (HD, 7 minutes): The cast gives tips on surviving a horrible boss.
• Being Mean is So Much Fun (HD, 7 minutes): The bosses in the film talk about playing the roles of the bad guys.
• The Making of the Horrible Bosses Soundtrack (HD, 6 minutes)
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 10 minutes)
• UltraViolet Digital Copy: Stream your UVDC to your computer, table or smartphone, and download it to your computer. Streaming is the only feature currently available, most others will be available in December 2011.3.5
• BD-Live Functionality

Movie - 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

Review

Horrible Bosses is an entertaining crudely funny movie, that dares to dive into the darkness of the disgruntled employee's fantasies. Just from the trailer you know about half of the movie, but what you don't know is that the chemistry between the three guys is fun to watch. It seems as if they were already friends before the camera's started to roll. Speaking of the cast, it's nice to see Jennifer Aniston in something other than an romantic comedy. I had almost forgotten that she is a good comedic actress.

This film is not the normal comedy, of course the plot is darker than most films. However, it also plays to people's secret fantasies of getting rid of people they don't like. Seeing them play out on screen also makes you realize that giving the opportunity, the average person wouldn't go through with killing someone. I also like how they mention that people will put up with a bad workplace because it's harder to find a job in the rough economy. It's nice to see that Hollywood hasn't completely lost touch with the average man. However, the film isn't perfect. Most characters in comedies are over the top, and this movie is not an exception. Although in this film, they go a little too far for a laugh. It seamed like they were working too hard for it to be humorous. Instead of it earning it because it was honestly funny.