BEFORE: This completes the trilogy of random recent comedies this week - when I broke down my remaining list late last year, these didn't really fit in any category, but fortunately they shared actors. Tonight Jennifer Aniston carries over from "Wanderlust".
THE PLOT: Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness.
AFTER: Speaking of people I knew in college, I saw in the end credits that this film was produced by "He Who Shall Not Be Named" (not his real name, just what I call him). That was a close one, because I've managed to keep this zone relatively free of The Evil One's influence, except for one segment of "New York, I Love You" (yes, it was THAT segment...). But I can separate my feelings against him from my rating of this film, since I saw how little he worked in film school - so I doubt he has much influence when it comes to the creation of any artistic venture.
You might think you've seen this plot before, and you'd be right - both in "Strangers on a Train" and "Throw Momma From the Train". But this specifically is set in three workplaces, perhaps to tap into the zeitgeist of the new Millennium, when the middle class is struggling just to get by, let alone get ahead, and those with jobs can't afford to quit them - heck, they can barely afford to keep them.
So there's motivation to keep working for an a-hole, or a sexual harrasser, or a deviant. But the question lingers, why not just report the boss to H.R., or file a lawsuit? They sort of touch on that here, but the film still depicts people willing to take the "easy" way out by resorting to murder - only those murders don't turn out to be as easy as planned.
This is the first use of this plot in the modern, post-CSI era - so there's an admission that anything you do WILL leave evidence. But this motivates the "criss-cross" idea even more - any evidence would lead back to someone with no motive, or ideally if the killer weren't even in the system, to no one.
From a screenwriting standpoint, here's the dilemma - how do you portray people with intent to kill, and not only maintain a comedic tone, but keep the audience rooting for the lead characters? One way is to make the bosses far, far worse villains than the employees - but another way is to depict the heroes as clumsy screw-ups. Certainly if they succeed in their plans, they lose the audience. So I applaud the film for walking a very fine line - showing characters with the intent to kill, but neither the ability nor the stones to succeed at it.
It's hard to say where the turning point is, but once the original plan starts to go awry, a very different one starts to take shape. And it's still possible to get to an acceptable result, so that's another bit of clever.
Speaking of clever, I started the month with something "Miserables" and ended with "Horrible" - I love a bit of symmetry. And now I'm perfectly set up for the February topic, which is my 5th annual examination of love and romance in all its forms. Aniston was something of a staple in romantic comedies for several years, so I'll start there tomorrow.
Also starring Jason Bateman (last seen in "Paul"), Jason Sudeikis (last seen in "Semi-Pro"), Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey (last heard in "A Bug's Life"), Colin Farrell (last seen in "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"), Jamie Foxx (last heard in "Rio"), with cameos from Donald Sutherland (last seen in "The Eagle"), Ioan Gruffudd (last seen in "W."), Julie Bowen, Bob Newhart, Ron White, John Francis Daley.
RATING: 6 out of 10 security cameras
No comments:
Post a Comment