FILM REVIEW OF ''HORRIBLE BOSSES" (2011)

“Horrible Bosses” (*** OUT OF ****) is hilarious hokum from fade-in to fade-out.  Of course, this imaginative but complicated, R-rated comedy of errors about premeditated murder is not for everybody.  If you can tolerate neither profanity nor homicide, then this laugh-fest may not be appropriate fare.  Conversely, if you have or have had a boss who deserved a slow but tortuous death, “Horrible Bosses” could make your laugh rather than wallow in homicidal fantasies.  The biggest joke of “Horrible Bosses,” which lives up to its title, is that the heroes are hopelessly clueless.  Imagine a parody of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train,” except the wannabe killers lack the nerve to go for the jugular.  At the same time, most Hollywood thrillers feature one chief villain, but “Horrible Bosses” boasts three.  Two are male, but one is female, while our protagonists are all men.  Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman of “Juno”), Dale Arbus (Charlie Day of “Pacific Rim”), and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis of “Hall Pass”) suffer the agonies of the damned as they tangle hopelessly with their respective bosses, Dave Harkin (Kevin Spacey of “Superman Returns”), Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. (Jennifer Aniston of “Rock Star”), and Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell of “Miami Vice”).  Clearly the worst of the three, Harkin qualifies as a venomous sadist with a streak of misanthropy.  He takes special pleasure in ridiculing everybody without mercy.  At one point, he tells Nick, “Life is a marathon, and you cannot win a marathon without putting a few band-aids on your nipples, right?” Nick confides in his friends that working for Harken is like working for the Antichrist.  When he isn’t terrorizing poor Nick, Harken believes that his wife Rhonda (Julie Bowen of “Amy's Orgasm”) is having sex with everybody but him.  Incidentally, Rhonda is probably cuckolding Harken because she has bathroom sex with Kurt during Harken’s surprise birthday party.   

While Harken represents one kind of ignoble boss, Julia Harris embodies another version.  Aniston plays a sexy but unscrupulous dentist who takes advantage of her male dental assistant, Dale, because he is a sex offender.  Talk about weird stuff.  Dale was arrested while he was urinating on a playground in the middle of the night so he has to register himself as a sex offender.  Finding a job proved difficult for him until he entered Julia’s naughty world where she could dominate him.  She takes advantage of him repeatedly.  Initially, when he was a patient, she took incriminating photos of him in sexual positions with her while he was still under the effects of medication.  She uses these photos to blackmail him into becoming her sexual slave and he has to put up with her unwanted advances.  Meanwhile, Sudeikis deals with a total swine of a boss who is a cokehead.  Colin Farrell stretches the most as an actor here because he looks nothing like evil Bobby Pellitt.  Bobby hasn’t liked Kurt from the start because Kurt and Bobby’s father, Jack (Donald Sutherland of “M.A.S.H.”), were such close friends.  Jack had planned to pass the family business onto Kurt, but Jack died unexpectedly from a heart attack so Bobby inherited the business and drives Kurt up the wall. Bobby is such a cheapskate that he kept his father desk plate but put his name over his father's name!

After our woebegone protagonists have put up with far too much abuse from their horrid superiors, they find an African-American, Dean 'MF' Jones (Jamie Fox of “Miami Vice”), who is on parole.  One of the running jokes is the use of Dean’s profane nickname that our heroes use without a qualm. .Anyway, ‘MF’ refuses to commit the killings for them, but he agrees to serve as their murder consultant for $5000.  At the time, our foolish protagonists believed that ‘MF’ spent 10 years in the big house for murder.  One of the surprises of “Horrible Bosses” is that Dean wasn’t a murderer.  He went to a jail because the authorities caught him in a movie theater with a video camera recording a film!  Nevertheless, ‘MR’ tells our hapless trio: “Most killers are first-timers.  You wanna pull off a brilliant murder; you gotta act like it’s an accident.  Failed brakes, gas leaks, suicide.  You do it right, you ain’t even gotta be there when it goes down.”  Sounds like ‘MR’ saw the Charles Bronson hitman movie “The Mechanic” because the Bronson character staged each hit as if it were an accident.  Hendricks remains skeptical about MR’s advice: “Sounds like Scooby-Doo.  How are we supposed to fake three accidents?”  Our heroes are naturally disappointed by ‘MF’s lack of participation.  According to ‘MF,’ they must “stalk their prey.”  Second, he continues: “Gotta be smart.  Find out where they live, find out their habits.  What’s their hobbies?”  Nevertheless, ‘MR’ warns them if they have motives that the ‘popo’ will find them.  Nick points out, “We all have clear motives for killing our bosses, . . .so this is not gonna work.  This is garbage.”  ‘MF’ suggests they “kill each other’s bosses.”  This is when Kurt alludes to Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train.”  Dale hasn’t seen “Strangers on a Train,” but he has seen the Danny DeVito movie “Throw Momma from a Train.”  “We kill each other’s bosses, there’s no link to us,”  Kurt observes.  During this part of the process, comedy galore ensues, particularly while Hendricks and Buckman are in Dave Harken’s house, and dimwitted Dale sits parked outside the house, acting at their look-out.  Harken surprises the unsuspecting Dale after the latter has littered on his street and reprimands him for littering until he catches a whiff of the peanuts.  Harken collapses like a sack of potatoes, unconscious on the pavement.  Dale saves Dave’s life without realizing who Dave is.  Dave’s wife Rhonda happens to come along and rejoices at Dale’s timely intervention.  Naturally, the suspicious Harken suspects that Dale and Rhonda had arranged to meet each other for an exchange of sexual favors.  One of the funniest surprises involves the connection between Harken and Pellitt.  While Nick is maintaining surveillance at Pellitt’s residence, Harken shows up and shoots Pellitt several times and leaves without spotting Nick.  

Altogether, “Horrible Bosses” never stops spouting jokes. Indeed, things are a little extreme, but that is to be expected for a comedy.  Jason Bateman gets to play another schmuck and he is a past master at playing schmuck.  He wears a straight face and never lets on that he is in on the joke.  Meantime, each of the villains receives their just comeuppance.  Director Seth Gordon and his scenarists do an exemplary job of foreshadowing what occurs later.  Donald Sutherland’s cameo as Kurt's boss is too brief but it fits in with the timeline.  One other character, who appears to be around simply as a sick one-note joke, Kenny Sommerfeld (P.J. Bryne of “29 Palms”), actually figures prominently in Julia’s comeuppance.  The ending with Nick—as president of the company--meeting his new boss, Mr. Sherman (Bob Newhart), in the parking lot, is hysterically funny. “Horrible Bosses” is a funny movie.

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE WILD ONE" (1953)

“Death of a Salesman” director László Benedek’s crime melodrama “The Wild One” (**1/2 out of ****) qualifies as the first outlaw motorcycle movie. Columbia Pictures released this seminal Hollywood epic, and Benedek and two-time Oscar winning cinematographer Hal Mohr lensed it primarily on the studio’s backlot, using a setting that was featured in many of its Randolph Scott westerns. Brooklyn-born producer Stanley Kramer, who sought to raise social consciousness throughout his career by tackling controversial subject matter, is remembered for several acclaimed films, such as “The Defiant Ones” (1958), “On the Beach” (1959), “Inherit the Wind” (1960), “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961), “Ship of Fools’ (1965) and “Guess Who's Coming to Dinner” (1967). “Murder, My Sweet” scenarist John Paxton based his screenplay on a true-life, Fourth of July weekend incident in Hollister, California, in 1947. Ostensibly, “Harper’s Magazine” published author Frank Rooney’s short story about the event, “The Cyclists' Raid,” in its January 1951 issue. Like most true-life stories, Kramer, Benedek, and Paxton dramatically enlivened events because little of what they depicted occurred during the actual event. This tale of rebellion was so intense when it first came out that the British Board of Film Censors banned it from being shown in England until the late 1960s! Indeed, the filmmakers open the film with a forward that states: “This is a shocking story. It could never take place in most American towns - but it did in this one. It is a public challenge not to let it happen again.”

Marlon Brando plays Johnny Strabler and sports sideburns. He wears a black leather bomber jacket with epaulets and his name stenciled across the left side. All of Johnny’s riders have the symbol of a skull with two pistons criss-crossed beneath it on the backs of their leather jackets. Johnny leads the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. After they disrupt a motorcycle rally race in the nearby town, Johnny and his gang roll into the sleepy little town of Wrightsville where most of the action transpires. While they are in town, the BRMC riders guzzle lots of beer at Bleeker’s Café, cause a wreck on main street, and brawl in the street. An elderly man, Art Kleiner (Will Wright of “All the King's Men”), tools into town in his Ford when a group of cyclists plan to drag for beers. As they roar into the street, Kleiner swerves to avoid them and smashes his front fender on a telephone pole. One of Johnny’s riders, Crazy (Gene Peterson of “Hiawatha”) slams into Art’s Ford and injures his ankle. Initially, the locals embrace them, but the BRMC wear out their welcome quickly when they enrage a high-profile citizen, Charlie Thomas (Hugh Sanders of “The Pride of St. Louis”), when they tip his car over. Somebody mentions that Charlie has always been a bully since the third grade and he uses his standing in the town to respond to the threat that he feels the bikers pose. By the time that this has happened, a rival motorcycle gang, the Beetles, lead by Chino (Lee Marvin of “The Big Heat”) cruise into town. Chino steals a second place trophy that one of Johnny’s riders stole for him from the race. They are beating each other up when Charlie decides to move his car through the crowded streets. The local lawman, Sheriff Harry Bleeker (Robert Keith of “Duel of Champions”) does his best to look the other way, but he is forced by the townspeople to throw Chino in jail. Johnny complains about Charlie Thomas, but Charlie is such a big-wig that Harry refuses to jail him.

Marlon Brando plays Johnny Strabler and sports sideburns. He wears a black leather bomber jacket with epaulets and his name stenciled across the left side. All of Johnny’s riders have the symbol of a skull with two pistons criss-crossed beneath it on the backs of their leather jackets. Johnny leads the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. After they disrupt a motorcycle rally race in the nearby town, Johnny and his gang roll into the sleepy little town of Wrightsville where most of the action transpires. While they are in town, the BRMC riders guzzle lots of beer at Bleeker’s Café, cause a wreck on main street, and brawl in the street. An elderly man, Art Kleiner (Will Wright of “All the King's Men”), tools into town in his Ford when a group of cyclists plan to drag for beers. As they roar into the street, Kleiner swerves to avoid them and smashes his front fender on a telephone pole. One of Johnny’s riders, Crazy (Gene Peterson of “Hiawatha”) slams into Art’s Ford and injures his ankle. Initially, the locals embrace them, but the BRMC wear out their welcome quickly when they enrage a high-profile citizen, Charlie Thomas (Hugh Sanders of “The Pride of St. Louis”), when they tip his car over. Somebody mentions that Charlie has always been a bully since the third grade and he uses his standing in the town to respond to the threat that he feels the bikers pose. By the time that this has happened, a rival motorcycle gang, the Beetles, lead by Chino (Lee Marvin of “The Big Heat”) cruise into town. Chino steals a second place trophy that one of Johnny’s riders stole for him from the race. They are beating each other up when Charlie decides to move his car through the crowded streets. The local lawman, Sheriff Harry Bleeker (Robert Keith of “Duel of Champions”) does his best to look the other way, but he is forced by the townspeople to throw Chino in jail. Johnny complains about Charlie Thomas, but Charlie is such a big-wig that Harry refuses to jail him.

Later, Charlie mobilizes a vigilante committee, and they track down Johnny and beat him up. Things turn ugly when the motorcycle gangsters run Dorothy, the telephone operator, out of her office and nobody can get through to the state police. By this time, Frank Bleeker (Ray Teal of "Ace in the Hole") regrets having had anything to do with Johnny and his ruffians. Frank owns the local café and his niece Kathie Bleeker (Mary Murphy of "Live Fast, Die Young") has attracted Johnny's attention. During a scene in the café, a hair stylist dancing with one of Johnny's riders asks him what he is rebelling against with his outlaw gang. Johnny has no clue, "What do you got?" At one point, a gang of motorcyclists corner Kathie in a back ally, but Johnny roars in to her rescue and they later have brief romantic entanglement where they kiss. After Johnny has dropped her off, the vigilantes attack him. Eventually, Johnny escapes, but he is pursued by dozens of townspeople. Johnny races onto main street and somebody slings a tire iron at him. The tire iron strikes Johnny and knocks him off his cycle. The unmanned cyclist careens into a crowd of spectators and an old man, Jimmy (William Vedder of "The Senator Was Indiscreet"), dies when the bike hits him. Johnny barely misses going to jail when Sheriff Stew Singer (Jay C. Flippen of "Jet Pilot") arrives with two carloads of deputies. Based on some last minute testimony, Singer releases Johnny, but warns him, "I don't know if there's any good in you. I don't know if there's anything in you. But, I'm gonna take a big fat chance... and let you go." Johnny and the two motorcycle gangs leave town. Later, Johnny slips back into town alone and gives Kathie the stolen trophy. They smile and "The Wild One" concludes.

“The Wild One” went on to inspire a number of outlaw motorcycle gang movies, including “The Wild Angels” (1966), with Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, and Nancy Sinatra; “Hells Angels on Wheels” (1967) and “Rebel Rousers” with Jack Nicholson; “The Born Losers,” and the most prestigious biker movie “Easy Rider” (1969), with Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson. Eventually, all-female biker gang movie appeared, including “The Hellcats,” (1967), “She-Devils on Wheels” (1968), “The Miniskirt Mob” (1968), “Sisters in Leather” (1969), “Angels' Wild Women” (1972), and “Cycle Vixens” (1978). Mind you, although it was pretty disturbing for 1950s' audiences, "The Wild One" is so tame now that it will be difficult for 21st century viewers to wonder how such an insignificant film could have sparked the genre.

FILM REVIEW OF ''EDGE OF DARKNESS" (2010)

Mel Gibson delivers a devastating performance as a grief-stricken dad in “Casino Royale” director Martin Campbell’s remake of his own 1985 BBC mini-series “Edge of Darkness.” This revenge-themed rampage about a veteran Boston homicide detective who investigates the mysterious murder of his only daughter and the suspicious role that a shady corporation may have played in her death is far too gritty for its own good. No, “Edge of Darkness” (**1/2 OUT OF ****)is nothing like previous Gibson outings, such as either the charismatic “Lethal Weapon” franchise, “Conspiracy Theory” or “Payback.” Campbell and scenarists William Monahan of “The Departed” and Andrew Bovell of “Head On” alternate between Gibson’s investigation and surreal scenes between Gibson and his dead daughter that compare with similar scenes in the Peter Jackson movie “The Lovely Bones.” Meantime, Gibson remains appropriately grim-faced and humorless throughout this heavyweight but predictable 118-minute police procedural, political conspiracy thriller. Older, wiser, but every bit as lean and mean as he was in his “Mad Max” movies, our hero neither spouts witticisms nor has a twinkle in his eye. Basically, “Edge of Darkness” does not qualify as a big-dumb action opus with far-fetched stunts. The R-rated violence is brief, bloody, and brutal, something that will make the squeamish squirm. Mind you, it is fantastic to see Gibson back on the big screen after an eight-year hiatus, but this is not the kind of movie that you want to celebrate afterward with beer and pizza. The supporting cast, including Bojana Novakovic, Caterina Scorsone, Danny Huston, Jay O. Sanders, Peter Hermann , Ray Winstone, Shawn Roberts, and Tom Kemp, is commendable. Nevertheless, the tragic finale, the lackluster villains, and the shortage of enough surprises all undercut this suspenseful police thriller.

Veteran Boston homicide detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson of “What Women Want”) picks up his daughter, Emma (Bojana Novakovic of “Seven Pounds”), at the Boston Amtrak Station and drives her home. Along the way, Emma coughs up blood and starts bleeding from her nose. Once they reach the Craven residence, Emma gets worse, and Craven and she are heading out the door to the hospital when a masked gunman with a sawed-off shotgun gives Emma both barrels in the torso. The blast lifts Emma off the porch, catapults her backwards through the door, and sends her sprawling in a pool of blood down onto the living room floor. Before Craven has time to react, the killer has vanished into thin air. The news media believes the gunman had targeted Thomas, but instead accidentally killed his daughter. Initially, Thomas shares this mistaken assumption. Later, after he has sifted through his case files, our hero confesses that he has nobody mad enough at him to try and kill him. When he inventories his daughter’s things, he discovers a fully loaded automatic pistol registered to Emma’s boyfriend, Burnham (Shawn Roberts of “X-Men”), who is trying to keep a low profile, too. When Craven visits him, a very paranoid Burnham roughs him up and refuses to talk because he knows that he is under surveillance.

Eventually, Craven visits the North Moor Facility, where Emma worked on classified projects, and speaks to the Chief Operating Executive, Jack Bennett (Danny Huston of “The Aviator”), who expresses his condolences. An urbane Bennett assures Craven that the news of Emma’s demise not only shocked but also saddened everybody at work. Some forty-five minutes into this conspiracy thriller, Craven learns his daughter’s apartment has been ransacked and her computer stolen. He traces Emma’s cell phone calls, but everybody refuses to talk. One night an older man surprises Craven in his back yard. A cigar-smoking spook with an English accent and a District of Columbia driving license, Jedburgh (Ray Winstone of “Sahara”) explains that Emma had been tagged as a security threat to the United States. Craven is still mystified because his daughter told him nothing about her job. As the plot unfolds, our driven protagonist peels the layers off a metaphorically toxic onion and learns about a conspiracy that goes to the highest levels of government. Moreover, he finds himself tangling with gun-toting men in dark suits who cruise around in large SUVs with assault rifles in their arsenal. Before long our hero finds himself in a corner with nowhere to turn and the big guns coming after him.

The original version of “Edge of Darkness” appeared on the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom as a television mini-series about young environmental activist, Emma Craven (Joanne Whalley of the television mini-series “Scarlett”), killed under mystifying circumstances. Her father Ronald Craven (Bob Peck of “Jurassic Park”) of the West Yorkshire constabulary launches an investigation into an isolated nuclear waste storage facility on the Yorkshire dales, runs afoul of a C.I.A. agent (Joe Don Baker of “GoldenEye”) and bad things ensue. Martin Campbell and his writers have altered Troy Kennedy Martin's original teleplay, changed the setting, scaled back the action from 314 minutes to 117 minutes, but everything is essentially the same. Unfortunately, aside from it being Mel Gibson’s comeback film, “Edge of Darkness” boasts a lot of edge and too much darkness. The film unravels during its last half-hour and not even a slam-bang shoot-out can salvage the convoluted plotting. Danny Huston heads up the villains, but they make little, if any impression. The scenes without Gibson lack vigor and add little to the action. “Edge of Darkness” joins a long list of political conspiracy thrillers where the omnipotent villains eliminate everybody until the final scene when an envelope with all the incriminating evidence falls into the hands of the media.

Director Martin Campbell and his talented crew, including lenser Phil Méheux and editor Stuart Baird, have done a fine job staging the action. The scene where a motorist sideswipes a female informant and Gibson's cop character blasts away at the driver after he speeds toward our hero is a dynamite scene. You will never see it coming and that is what makes Méheux's photography and Baird's editing so engrossing. Sadly, the plot muddles up and this amounts to little more than an above-average revenge thriller.