After the fiasco of the first film, instead of getting new bosses, our trio decides to start their own business. Nick (played by Jason Bateman), Dale (played by Charlie Day) and Kurt (played by Jason Sudeikis) create a Shower Buddy prototype that could make them rich. They are discovered by Rex Hanson (played by Chris Pine) and his father, Bert (played by Christoph Waltz), who run a billion dollar company and are seemingly looking for a partnership. They sign the paperwork, but Bert soon after cancels the deal and steals their product. Exhausted of all legal options and financial resources, Nick, Dale, and Kurt conceive a plan to kidnap Rex in order to get money to pay off their debt.
I enjoyed the first film a lot so I was looking forward to the sequel. The new additions of my fave actors Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz only increased my level of excitement. Both actors are capable of some pulling off some pretty crazy scenes, so I was expecting a take no prisoners approach for both of their characters.
While the film was watchable, unfortunately I don’t think it was better than the first one. Maybe it’s because the first one delivered an element of surprise for me and this comes off as feeling like more of the same. The stakes don’t feel any higher and the characters don’t appear to have learned from past mistakes.
Also, I was more annoyed with Charlie Day here than in the original. His brand of comedy is not for everyone and for me it’s more miss than hit. I tolerate him in these movies because there are other things going on, but I could do without him.
Jennifer Aniston’s character is as crazy as ever and they incorporated her more here than in the first one but it didn’t make the film better off for it. I think she filled the void left by Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey’s characters. And there is Spacey here, but in his situation there’s not a lot he can do now. I loved how intense he was in the first one. He made it very easy to hate him but he kept us curious as to what he would do next to make their lives hell.
I felt like Christoph Waltz could have filled his shoes but be was underutilized. Chris Pine’s character starts off interesting but it doesn’t sustain. It just felt like a lot of wasted potential for the sake of making a sequel.
Overall, fans of the original will watch this anyway but it’s somewhat of a let down and it doesn’t serve its purpose well enough.