Horrible Bosses 2 - Pretty reasonable sequel

We all know sequels are hit and miss at the best of times.  And, comedies are often the first to find it hard to repeat the magic of the original. ‘Horrible Bosses’ was fun, so ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ had a fair amount to live up to.  But, it managed it.  Just.  But, in ‘comedy film terms’ ‘just’ is actually better than the average.

The three men from the original return for the sequel.  Instead of wanting to murder their employers this time, they have set up their own business so they never have to work for anyone ghastly again.  Only things go a little wrong when a company director agrees to purchase their product, only to go back on the deal.  Once this happens, the trio start along another path of ‘dark thoughts.’

The first plus point is that it’s not just the three main stars who return.  All other surviving cast members come back, even if it’s just for a cameo here and there and it does help to have a decent cast, again including Jennifer Anniston and Kevin Spacey.

The new ‘horrible’ bosses are pretty vile and you could probably imagine them existing in the corporate works (although probably most of us haven’t worked for their kind before).  The plot is pretty much the same, i.e. revenge, but they do go about things a little differently this time (which is nice).  Special mention to Chris Pine, who is about as far away from James T Kirk as you can possibly get!

There are a decent amount of laughs thrown in there to warrant the ‘comedy’ tag, but two out of the three leading men do tend to grate on you after a little while, as they’re just acting a little too immature for the serious situation they’ve found themselves in.

If you liked the first, you should at least smile all the way through the second.  If you haven’t seen the first, it’s probably best to start there before dabbling with the sequel.  It’s adult in nature, so be prepared for some pretty ‘adult’ moments (Jennifer Anniston, I’m looking at you!).  Not great, but just about passable for a comedy sequel.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that