Chances are that at some point in your life you've hated your boss. Whether he (or she) was antagonistic, incompetent or just a self-serving tool, you no doubt daydreamed of a time when he would be gone. Now for most people, "gone" would mean laid off or arrested, but a special few imagine throwing the boss through a window and watching him fall 30 stories to a gruesome death. This is exactly what Nick (Jason Bateman) imagines when his boss, the psychopathic bully Dave Harken (superbly portrayed by Kevin Spacey), passes him over for a well-deserved promotion in the new comedy Horrible Bosses.

Nick, however, would never think of doing such a thing outside the safety of his own mind. Correction: he would never think of it until his two best friends — who both also happen to have bosses from hell — prod him into actually doing it.

Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) can't stand his new boss, Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell), who took over (and is threatening the integrity of) his family's business after Kurt's father has a heart attack. Dale (Charlie Day) is harassed daily by his boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), a dentist with a seriously disturbing case of nymphomania. For one reason or another quitting isn't an option for any of the men, and after a few drinks one night the idea of actually killing their bosses emerges. With the help of ex-con, Dean "MF" Jones (Jamie Foxx), and a hardly fool-proof plan, the three men set out to off their horrible bosses.

While the humor is mostly vulgar and incorporates a few too many rape jokes for my taste, Horrible Bosses is a solid summer comedy. The main characters themselves are entertaining in their clumsy scheming and occasional hysteria, and all are distinctive and well acted. As for the bosses, Spacey's Harken emerges as the true villain while the other two fade to the background. All three are so one-dimensionally horrible that, whether the main characters were likable or not, you too would like to see their bosses get thrown out a window or hit by a train.

As far as the story goes, the setup really does sell the idea that the men had few other options but to resort to homicide. However, the way they go about planning to kill their bosses is absurd. (There's no way any of these guys could pull off surveying their targets and breaking into their homes, let alone killing them.) But comedy is more about exaggeration than believability — and Horrible Bosses is just anchored enough to work.