When I first saw the trailer for Fright Night my immediate reaction was one of laughter and annoyance. In the film Charlie (Anton Yelchin) discovers that his new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. In order to protect the people he loves, Charlie has to kill Jerry with the help of famous vampire slayer Peter Vincent (David Tennant). Great, another film about vampires that also happens to be a remake of a horror film I have never heard of. It all seem stupid and destined for failure, and I honestly could not have been more wrong.

While Fright Night does contain its share of silly and over-the-top elements, the fact that the film and the actors embrace those elements along with a high degree of self-awareness actually work on the film’s favor. This is a ridiculous film but sometimes the most ridiculous films are also the most entertaining and awesome films, and Fright Night is all of those things. From the first note of Ramin Djawadi’s excellent score in the opening of the film, one gets the sense that everything that follows will be pure unadulterated fun. And truth be told, Fright Night has been amongst the most fun I’ve had watching a film this year.

The cast in this film is filled with pure hits across the board. Anton Yelchin is as excellent as always and adds depth to a character that on first glance didn’t seem to have any. He can pretty much do anything from being a dick to a frighten teenager to a total badass vampire slayer, and he also brings in a few laughs for good measure. Even though he is the protagonist and we identify with him more so than others, Yelchin does get overshadowed by the film’s two definitive standouts: Colin Farrell and David Tennant.

Colin Farrell is absolutely brilliant as the Jerry the vampire. You can tell he is having a blast playing that character and that enjoinment makes his scenes even more memorable. What really surprised me is how intimidating, menacing and frightening Colin Farrell is in the film. I didn’t expect him to be so good and he’s one of the big reasons why I would watch this film countless of times. Farrell’s performance here will go down in my book as his best performance of all-time right after In Bruges.

Then we have David Tennant who I’m not too familiar with but after seeing him here I’m craving for so much more. Tennant is incredibly hysterical in this film and is responsible for basically all the laughs in the film. Every time he is on screen everything becomes even more awesome, self-aware and cool than before. He is brilliantly charismatic a while he’s character is sort of a wus at the start, he becomes an awesome drunken badass vampire slayer at the end. Tennant is the reason why I need to see Fright Night again.

Another element of the film that really surprised me were the action and special effects. From the trailer they didn’t look that memorable, but once you see the film you notice how impressive they are. They’re not groundbreaking or Oscar worthy, but do succeed in enhancing the coolness, excitement and scariness of each action scene. There’s also a nice transition between CGI to real-life things, like in the scenes where Colin Farrell’s face turns in his real vampire face which by the way is actually really creepy/scary.

Much to my surprise Fright Night turned out be one of the most memorable and fun films of the year, and proved that sometimes first impressions can be totally off. The cast of this film is brilliant (David Tennant being the best for me) as well as the score and special effects. Fright Night is an effective and constantly awesome horror film that one would hope more people went out to see. Furthermore, this is one of the few films this year that has made me say “I want the Blu-ray now” just after the end credits roll. I loved Fright Night.

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Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) share a huge problem: they have terrible bosses. Nick’s boss, Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), has made Nick his bitch for over 7 years and gave himself a position that was suppose to be for Nick. Dale’s boss, Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), is sexually obsessed with Dale and wants to blackmail him on the eve of his engagement. And Kurt’s new boss, Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell), is a total psychotic cokehead. After a night of drinking and dreading their lives, they get the idea that they should just kill off their bosses. In comes in Motherfucking Jones (Jamie Foxx) who becomes their murder consultant.

If there’s a problem I have with comedies nowadays is that they give away the funniest scenes of the film in the trailers. That is the exact thing that happens with Horrible Bosses and as a result the film turns out to be not so funny. Don’t get me wrong, the film isn’t bad by any means but it is somewhat of a let down. All the characters are hits and miss except for Jamie Foxx who is the only constantly hilarious character. Second funniest for me is a tie between Jason Bateman and Charlie Day who steals every single scene he is in. At times Day gets a bit annoying with his constantly talkative dumbness, but for the most part he is pretty funny.

The weakest link is without a doubt Jennifer Aniston. Yes, she is extremely beautiful and I enjoyed her all the stages of undress she displayed in the film but besides that she just fall flat. We all know that swearing isn’t for everyone, someone people can swear not only in a natural manner but also in a manner that just sounds awesome. Then there are people like Jennifer Aniston that look awkward when swearing. It seem like she was trying way to hard to banish her good-girl persona, and as a result only 10% of things she says are genuinely funny.

There’s really nothing else to say about Horrible Bosses. It is an occasionally funny film with a more than relatable premise. The cast is for the most part very funny with a few exceptions, but all around it is an okay film. The trailer is very misleading and if you expect something funnier than that you will be a bit disappointed. Horrible Bosses is for all intents and purposes the perfect rental film and I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for its movie ticket.

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