Horrible Bosses

Anthony has already reviewed Horrible Bosses via its DVD release so the intention of this review is to simply provide a quick technical look at the Blu-ray version. I will offer a short take on the film and simply say that I enjoyed it a little more than Anthony did, mainly because I found the boss characters in the opening act to be quite effective at their purpose. Aniston and Farrell in particular are good value, and not just because they're playing against type (though it certainly helps in Aniston's case). Once you get past the opening act however they're relegated to the background and the laughs dry up somewhat (though not completely) as the trio of Sudekis, Bateman and Day fail to really engage you unless they're taking part in one of their numerous encounters with either the bosses or other secondary characters. When they occupy a scene without any outside aid the dialogue tends fall flat and becomes increasingly banal as the film progresses.

The Disc

Anthony mentioned some edge enhancement and general harshness in his review of the DVD. I think it's fair to say the Blu-ray improves matters here with a generally pleasing transfer and no sign of EE but the film is rather dark throughout with very deep blacks which certainly gives it a harsh appearance at times. It's certainly no demo disc but I suspect we're seeing the best presentation of it on Blu-ray, it's just unfortunate that it isn't a visually interesting film.

No such complaints with the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track which is clear as a whistle but rather light on impact given the nature of the comedy genre. There are numerous foreign language audio and subtitle options present (see the sidebar to your left for a full list).

In terms of extras, the biggest draw of this Blu-ray is the extended version of the main feature (the original theatrical cut is also available). This cut of the film adds in 8 additional minutes which take the form of scene extensions, and with the exception of one scene, it's all worthwhile material. In terms of the good we get quite a lot more of Colin Farrell in the early scenes, and the sequence in the bar where the guys meet an old college friend is considerably longer. Jamie Foxx's first scene is also extended slightly. The exception I mentioned is where the guys do their first stakeout, which is extended considerably and is pretty awful making it hard to understand why they didn't leave it for the deleted scenes section on the disc.

The other bonus features are a pitiful bunch. 10 minutes of forgettable deleted scenes (including two alternate openings) and 4 featurettes of the 'made-for-internet' variety which feature more film clips than interview footage. The best of a bad bunch is 'Being Mean is so Much Fun' in which Spacey, Aniston and Farrell discuss the fun they had playing against type, and the 'Making of the Horrible Bosses Soundtrack' is at least vaguely interesting as we learn some semi-notable musicians played a part in the not-so-notable soundtrack.

All of the extra material is presented in 1080p. The disc includes access to Warner's BD-Live portal but there is no exclusive content to be found (just the usual trailers and promotional bits for other releases). Finally there are DVD and digital copy versions of the film included in this 'Triple Play' set.

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