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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
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.
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- Written by: Editor
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.
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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
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
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.