HORRIBLE BOSSES (Rated R)

As evidenced by the hilarity of “Bridesmaids” and “The Hangover Part II,” it’s been a good year so far for the kind of crude and raunchy comedy that habitually offends the sensibilities of snooty critics.

Adding to the hit parade of vulgar, yet hysterically funny comedies is “Horrible Bosses,” almost certain to rile those with an irrational fondness for good taste and political correctness.

Then again, comedy, of course, is an extremely subjective enterprise, as one person’s brand of humor may prove impertinent or odious to another.

“Horrible Bosses” turns an Alfred Hitchcock thriller conceit about murder plots into something wildly improbable and completely uproarious.

Three friends who are being harassed at separate places of employment find their frustration has reached the boiling point, or so it would appear while knocking back a few brewskis after work.

Corporate achiever Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) logs 12-hour days and weekend work to satisfy his executive supervisor Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey).

The boss from hell, Harken treats all of his middle managers with contempt, reserving his most humiliating taunts for upwardly mobile striver Nick.

Presumptive ladies man Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) has a great job at a chemical company owned by the gentle Jack Pellit (Donald Sutherland).

Unfortunately, Mr. Pellit dies of a heart attack, leaving the company in the hands of his psychotic son Bobby (Colin Farrell), who seeks to loot the family business to finance his hedonistic lifestyle.

Dental assistant Dale Arbus (Charlie Day), engaged to a sweet, innocent girl, struggles to maintain his self-respect against the relentless X-rated sexual advances of his employer, who holds the ace card because Dale is a registered sex offender and can’t find work elsewhere.

Almost defying logic, Dale is aghast that the sexy Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) comes on to him with an unbridled vengeance, even when patients are comatose in the dental chair.

The trio of beleaguered buddies ruminates after work and starts speculating that, much like in the plot of Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train, they could eliminate each other’s hateful employers.

Their cockeyed intentions turn into a fuzzy plan to secure the services of a hit man, whereupon they discover a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx) in a seedy tavern, which is located with the help of verbal directions from the GPS in a Prius.

On the strength of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from their new criminal ally, the guys devise a convoluted and foolhardy plan to rid the world of their respective horrible bosses.

We see enough of the despicable behavior of the targets that they are not sympathetic, though one would argue that the randy dentist is not even a close match for the other two as far as loathsome behavior is concerned.

Still, the coke-snorting Bobby is a cretin who only cares about funding his drug habit. The manipulative Harken, because he’s both smart and ruthless, is even more deplorably evil.

Many hijinks ensue as the trio fumbles through recon missions that require snooping through private residences, finding signs of Harken’s megalomania in the large portrait of his pose with a trophy wife.

The break-in at Bobby’s house is the most amusing. Kurt gleefully sticks Bobby’s toothbrush down the back of his pants. Meanwhile, Nick and Dale make a big mess of Bobby’s bowl of cocaine, vainly trying to scoop the soiled white powder back to its rightful place.

All the actors are quite funny in their respective roles of hapless victims and hopeless tools. Even minor actors deliver the goods, with comedian Ron White and Wendell Pierce sharply funny as incredulous cops.

“Horrible Bosses,” with its gleeful approach to getting rid of detestable workforce superiors, is an interesting comedy for our times, when the economy is so bad that seeking alternative employment is infeasible to most.

Nevertheless, as a sort of wish fulfillment revenge fantasy, this wacky comedy makes the workplace blues disappear for a brief but enjoyable timeout.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Inspired by a fake trailer in Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse,” the explosive, extremely gory thriller “Hobo With a Shotgun” has itself already become an online sensation for its own trailer.

Now you can own this instant classic gem of bad cinema on DVD. The grizzled Rutger Hauer stars in the titular role as the Hobo who jumps from a freight car, hoping for a fresh start in a new city.

Instead, he finds himself trapped in an urban hell. This is a world where criminals rule the street and Drake, the city’s crime boss, reigns supreme alongside his sadistic murderous sons, Slick and Ivan.

Amidst the chaos, the Hobo comes across a second-hand lawn mower, dreaming to start a new life. But as the brutality rages around him, he notices a shotgun hanging above the lawn mower.

Quickly, he realizes the only way to make a difference in this town is with that gun in his hand and two shells in the chamber.

“Hobo With a Shotgun,” dripping with gore, results in double-barreled mayhem and bloody violence. You have been warned.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

The Art in the Garden Craft Fair and Alpine Music Festival are both set to take place during the day at the park, 6244 Highway 20, Lucerne.

The craft fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Harbor Village Artists complex, located at 6193, 6195, 6197 and 6199 E. Highway 20.

Original and unique craft creations will be available for purchase in the garden, in the park and on the piers. Admission is free. Call 707-245-7512 for more information.

The music festival will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Five different bands will come together to share some great music, including Travis Rinker Acoustic Trance and Righteous Vibrations.

The following is a list of the performances – dates, times and venues.

– Saturday, July 23, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Zino’s Ristorante, 6330 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville. Reservations: 707-279-1620.

– Sunday, July 24, noon to 3 p.m.: Calistoga Inn, Sunday brunch, outdoor patio. Reservations: 707-942-4101.

– Saturday, July 30, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: With “Short Stax,” (the new instrumental soul, funk, rhythm and blues trio including Neft and two other members of Bill Noteman & the Rockets), Lake County Wine Adventure Moore Family Winery, Bottle Rock Road, Cobb.

– Saturday, July 30, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Zino’s Ristorante, 6330 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville. Reservations: 707-279-1620.

– Sunday, July 31, noon to 3 p.m.: Calistoga Inn, Sunday brunch, outdoor patio. Reservations: 707-942-4101.

– Saturday, Aug. 6, 1:15 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.: Bill Noteman & the Rockets, first time ever, at the Sonoma County Fair.

– Sunday, Aug. 14, 6 p.m.; Short Stax are opening for blues great Robert Cray at Ukiah’s Park Concert series, 6 pm. Free.

For more information call 707-522-0283. E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to get Neft's monthly schedule sent directly to your inbox.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

I don’t often mention literary forms, but of this lovely poem by Cecilia Woloch I want to suggest that the form, a villanelle, which uses a pattern of repetition, adds to the enchantment I feel in reading it. It has a kind of layering, like memory itself. Woloch lives and teaches in southern California.

My Mother's Pillow

My mother sleeps with the Bible open on her pillow;

she reads herself to sleep and wakens startled.

She listens for her heart: each breath is shallow.

For years her hands were quick with thread and needle.

She used to sew all night when we were little;

now she sleeps with the Bible on her pillow

and believes that Jesus understands her sorrow:

her children grown, their father frail and brittle;

she stitches in her heart, her breathing shallow.

Once she even slept fast, rushed tomorrow,

mornings full of sunlight, sons and daughters.

Now she sleeps alone with the Bible on her pillow

and wakes alone and feels the house is hollow,

though my father in his blue room stirs and mutters;

she listens to him breathe: each breath is shallow.

I flutter down the darkened hallway, shadow

between their dreams, my mother and my father,

asleep in rooms I pass, my breathing shallow.

I leave the Bible open on her pillow.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright © 2003 by Cecilia Woloch, whose most recent book of poetry is Narcissus, Tupelo Press, 2008. Reprinted from Late, by Cecilia Woloch, published by BOA Editions, Rochester, NY, 2003, by permission of Cecilia Woloch. Introduction copyright ©2011 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

The films will be shown at the grange, located at 12982 Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks.

“Laughology” will be shown at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 6, with an accompanying laughter yoga session. For more information visit www.hopedance.org/events/icalrepeat.detail/2011/07/13/5428 .

At 6 p.m. Thursday, July 14, “Farmageddon” will be shown, to be followed at 8 p.m. by “First Earth.”

For more information about the films see www.hopedance.org/events/icalrepeat.detail/2011/07/14/5426.

The suggested donation is $10 for each night. No one will be turned away.

LARRY CROWNE (Rated PG-13)

It’s only fitting that Tom Hanks is the titular character in “Larry Crowne,” seeing how the movie is nearly his own one-man show.

This is so because, in addition to being the star, Hanks is the director, co-producer and co-writer. He is also quite possibly the key grip and lighting technician, but I’m not sure.

“Larry Crowne” is a light comic soufflé, somewhat akin to a television sitcom, possibly as a result of script collaboration with co-writer Nia Vardalos, of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” fame.

For a story that involves its central character getting cashiered from his middle-level management post at a big-box store, “Larry Crowne” is surprisingly upbeat and almost cheerful in the face of such adversity.

Of course, Tom Hanks is always suited to the role of an Everyman, in this case one middle-aged Larry Crowne, recently divorced and one missed mortgage payment away from foreclosure.

On a sunny morning at a bland suburban location, Larry shows up for work as his usual chirpy self, expecting that he may likely be once again the company’s employee of the month.

To his shock and dismay, Larry learns that his bosses have decided to fire him because he lacks a college education. His service in the U.S. Navy just doesn’t cut it in the big-box retailing world.

After a fruitless search for a new job, Larry decides to enroll at the local community college. The economics class is taught by a weird professor (George Takei in a truly wacky, funny performance).

The far more challenging class is the one on public speaking, taught by the nonchalant Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts), who has a less than positive attitude about her job and her pupils.

For obvious reasons, the story gets caught up in the tawdry details of Mercedes’ personal life. If only for the moment, the professor is stuck in a crumbling marriage.

Coming home from another day of educational drudgery, Mercedes finds that her husband (Bryan Cranston), once a respected author, is more interested in spending time on the Internet in search of porn.

Meanwhile, as his financial situation deteriorates, Larry shuns his SUV in favor of a motor scooter to commute to school. This leads him to fall in with a group of like-minded scooter enthusiasts.

The affable Larry is soon caught up in a flirtatious relationship with pretty, spirited Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), leader of the motorbike crew, much to the dismay of her jealous boyfriend Dell (Wilmer Valderrama).

In relatively short order, Talia brings a much-needed makeover to the staid Larry, changing his entire wardrobe, bringing feng shui to his house and renaming him with the hipster moniker of “Lance Corona.”

While this innocent flirtation between Larry and Talia is diverting, the real chemistry heats up when Mercedes takes greater notice of her best student.

It all begins in a moment of weakness after Mercedes has had one too many drinks. Seeking to cope with myriad problems, the hard-drinking professor has an affinity for margaritas and a sudden hankering for her mature pupil.

Henceforth, the storyline of “Larry Crowne” inhabits a rather obvious direction that one would expect from an easily predictable romantic comedy.

Though “Larry Crowne” is a modest confection, it is one that is entirely satisfying because the amiable Hanks and the charismatic Roberts are eminently watchable and enjoyable together.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

I’ve mentioned it before that the detective TV series “Mannix” was always one of the best shows of its genre.

The release of “Mannix: Season Five” is further proof that my assessment stands the test of time. Mike Connors, in the role of the hard-boiled and gritty private eye, continued to succeed in bringing excitement to his role of Joe Mannix.

“Mannix: Season Five” includes all 24 action-packed episodes. So far, I have watched about a half-dozen of the episodes, and I can say they are as good as any from the previous four seasons.

Like many TV detectives, Mannix defied the rules and regulations and was able to handle all the fist fights, high-speed car chases and bullet wounds that came his way.

Yet, Mike Connors was unlike many of his peers, because he truly delivered the goods in great style. “Mannix: Season Five” is a must for those who love the adventures of a tough and cynical private investigator.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.