Penelope Cruz might be the prettier of the two, but Javier Bardem’s newest film The Good Boss is far better than Cruz’s Official Competition. Sorry Penny!
And that’s saying something since I saw The Good Boss after a very long day: running 3 and a half miles, playing an hour and 15 minutes of tennis in 90 degree heat, walking a mile home, working 4 hours of retail and having an appetizer el fresco. So it took some mighty acting and writing for me to find anything funny.
The Good Boss is smartly written and directed by Fernando Leon Aranoa and is broad enough to be funny, yet tight enough to heighten the tension. Bardem plays a Supervisor who claims his employees are his family and that’s where the chaos ensues. Any manager knows that being friends with your colleagues will end in very spoiled and/or lazy underlings.
The pieces of this puzzle include; a long term employee with troubles at home that interfere with his work quality, a sexy, flirtatious and young intern, and a laid off employee so disgruntled that he sets up a protest across the street.
See how it all turns out for yourself and relish Bardem as the exasperated CEO who can’t get out of his own way.
In the Summer Movie Spouse Competition, Javier Wins
