By Alana Dore, News Correspondent
After a hilarious original that received rave reviews both in the United States and abroad, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day return in “Horrible Bosses 2.” In this sequel to the 2011 film, the three men decide to start a business together after various horrors occur in each man’s day job.
“It’s a terrible thing for the three of these people to get back together again… They keep getting themselves into some serious trouble,” Day said.
Their plan to manufacture and distribute their product The Shower Buddy goes horribly awry when the friends are outwitted by master manipulator Burt Hanson (Christoph Waltz) and accidentally get mixed up with his son Rex (Chris Pine).
Jennifer Aniston also returns as Julia Harris, the nymphomaniac dentist whose main role in the film is to seduce the leading men. As Dale’s (Charlie Day) boss in the first movie, she constantly tried to sleep with him, and she proves consistent in the sequel. This time, however, she uses her position of power over the men to essentially force them into a foursome with her, foiled only when Dale’s wife and kids enter the room.
“You get asked to do sequels when it makes enough money to warrant it. It did really well overseas, which is not terribly common,” Bateman said. “What we didn’t want to do was make a film that wasn’t at least as good as the first film, and we worked really, really hard to attempt to do that.”
But it takes more than just a solid plotline and well-written screenplay to make a movie great. The actors knew that, ultimately, it would be their responsibility to ensure the quality of the film.
“We certainly felt the pressure amongst ourselves and then on behalf of fans of the movie, but the pressure gets released the second you start working,” Sudeikis said.
In addition to the new script, the sequel comes with new characters, like Burt and Rex, and a new screenwriter John Morris, who joins existing writer and director Sean Anders.
“[They are] two of the best comedy-writers in Hollywood right now, I think,” Sudeikis said.
Day agreed that Morris and Anders were well up to the task, based on their previous experience as writers.
“They did a great job with the rewriting of ‘We’re the Millers,’” Day said of Aniston and Sudeikis’ 2013 film. “[Anders] walks a really good line of not completely reinventing it, so that you don’t know what movie you’re walking, and when it makes sense for the film to get a little more stylized, he put a little more style in and it fits the story.”
Sudeikis also thought that the extended cast was an indication of a job well done in reinventing the script. When asked what they thought of their “fourth musketeer,” the men all agreed with Day that Pine added another element to the film.
Sudeikis added, “He brought a lot of hotness.”
The actors could not relate to their characters in terms of personal experiences with unfortunate employers. When asked about their own horrible bosses, the men had little to say. Bateman claims to be “waiting for a real son of a b***h to come my way. I’m prepped.”
The actors know the challenges that arise with filming a sequel to a well-received movie.
Audiences tend to get attached to the first rendition and hesitate to give equal praise to a later version.
“I expect people to be skeptical, and I hope they are pleasantly surprised,” Day said.
Bateman said that he was one of the sequel-skeptics as well, but thought the film still held its own.
“I watched this one with that same perspective and I genuinely liked it even more than the first,” Bateman said.
If viewers are doubtful of the sequel, have no fear. These three comedians reunite with purpose. Take solace in Bateman’s promise that it is “every bit as funny and the pace and the action and the way it looks and all that stuff, and the plot twists, is a lot more than it needs to be.”
Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Media Pass
