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Main Characters
Nick
Nick Hendricks
- Played By: Jason BatemanDubbed By: Bruno Choël (European French)
An executive for a financial firm run by David Harken. By the second film, he opens his own business along with his two best friends.
- Blatant Lies: In the first film, he tries to lie to the police about his moving violation (speeding in fear from a murder scene) that he was street racing. The police then point out he drives a Prius.Nick: (after some thinking) I don't win a lot..
- Catchphrase: "I'll be in the car."
- The Dog Bites Back: He punches out Harken at the end of the first film.
- Extreme Doormat: To Harken, at first. The gloves come off after Harken cheats him out of a promotion.
- Idiot Ball: Nick constantly makes very poor decisions throughout the film.
- He kept letting his corrupt Mean Boss lie to him about an upcoming promotion never thinking given what a jerkass Harken is just lying to him.
- To get revenge on Harken, he then shells out thousands of dollars to a total stranger (Jones) on the promise that he's a hitman but really just a con man.
- In the midst of following Jones' half-assed advice, he gets in the midst of Harken murdering Pelitt and flees away running down a red light going 61 at a 25 mph zone. He then makes up a horrendous lie he was drag racing.... in a Prius.
- When again following Jones' slightly more competent advice of trying to get a confession out of Harken for his murder and record it, he and Dale just follow Harken without bringing in Kurt who had the recording device as Kurt was busy receiving a blowjob from Harken's wife.
- Lastly when he gets a new boss Mr. Sherman to replace Harken, Nick can hear a hostage from Sherman's car trunk banging it and begging for freedom. Instead of pretending to hear nothing for his own safety, Nick just flat out points it out to Sherman who then advises him to keep quiet.
- Only Sane Man: While not a genius himself, Nick seems slightly more level-headed than Kurt and Dale.
- Straight Man: He is the smartest and most rational of the main characters.
- Sycophantic Servant: Up until Harken cheats him out of his promotion.
Dale
Dale Arbus
- Played By: Charlie Day
A dentist and assistant to Dr. Julia Harris whom she sexually harasses. By the second film, he opens his own business along with his two best friends.
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Thanks to a drunken public bathroom break on an empty playground, Julia is the only dentist in town who will hire him.
- Large Ham: Dale sure can get melodramatic.
- Nice Guy: Dale is what happens when you take the standard sweet, innocent working girl who gets sexually harassed in movies like 9 to 5, flip her gender, and change absolutely nothing else. He's not exactly effeminate, and he's definitely not camp, but he's still an unusual example of a straight male character carrying traditionally feminine virtues and flaws being portrayed quite positively high. (Then again, he also has the buried rage common in said common working girls...)
Kurt
Kurt Buckman
- Played By: Jason Sudeikis
An accountant working for a chemical company ran by Bobby Pellit, the son of the late boss. By the second film, he opens his own business along with his two best friends.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: So much so he ends up sleeping with Julia.
- Number Two: To Jack Pellitt before his death.
- The Pornomancer: Dear god, yes.
The Bosses
Harken
David Harken
- Played By: Kevin Spacey
Nick's boss. A cruel CEO who is constantly making horrible remarks to Nick.
- Ax-Crazy: When he goes after Bobby.
- Bad Boss: To Nick and eventually to Kurt and Dale, too.
- Big Bad: Out of the three bosses, he ends being the final villain when he kills Bobby in a fit of jealousy and the three protagonists witness him.
- Car Fu: During the car chase with Nick, Dale, and Kurt in the first movie.
- Clock King: He chastises Nick for being just two minutes late.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Shamelessly lies and manipulates to accrue money and power for himself.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Harken constantly thinks his wife is having an affair. When he finds Bobby's stolen mobile phone at his home, he proceeds to kill him. When Dale is parked near his home and Harken has an asthma attack, he gets furious that his wife thanks Dale for saving him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He may be a lying, murdering, and power-tripping Jerkass, but ruining the livelihoods of employees is low, even for him.
- Evil Feels Good: Admits this to Nick and Dale when they confront him and trick him into confessing that he killed Bobby.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: In the first movie, when Nick tells him he made him miss saying goodbye to his grandmother because he was working late for him, Harken apologizes... but then adds, "I had no idea your grandmother was named 'Gam-Gam'" as he dissolves into laughter.
- Expy: He's Buddy Ackerman except Played for Laughs.
- Fatal Flaw: His sociopathic behavior eventually drives him to commit a murder that gets him sent to jail.
- I Have a Family: He uses this on the police, although being a villain, his use of this trope comes out pathetic.Harken: PLEASE PROTECT ME FROM THEM! I have a wife!..... and a cat!
- Jerkass: Doesn't even bother hiding his petty sadism.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In the second movie, he points out that, however horrible a boss he might have been, the "nice" guys running their company into the ground through their incompetence does a hell of a lot more damage to their employees than Harken ever did. Even Nick has to admit that it's a fair point.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Or so he thinks, after finding Bobby's cell phone under a chair, thinking he's sleeping with his wife.
- Plot Allergy: He's deathly allergic to peanuts, which Nick decides to use to his advantage.
- The Sociopath: Treats his employees and his wife as tools and property rather than people, and is perfectly willing to commit murder.
- Stupid Evil: For all his success, he makes a lot of idiotic decisions that bite him. Justified since he is a sociopath and is inclined to make impulsive and self-destructive decisions.
- He proceeds to screw over Nick despite the being a hardworking employee.
- He just walks up to an innocent man at his door and shoots the guy believing he's his wife's lover, likely thinking nobody was around to see or hear it (Nick was), or that it wasn't caught on a surveillance cam, and that no consequences would arise from it. Granted it was at night and the block was pretty empty, but you still never really know.
- Also, later on, out of sheer arrogance, he quite loudly admits to killing Bobby to Nick and Dale, not once thinking they may be wiretapped.
- Ungrateful Bastard: To Dale, despite him saving his life. Instead of being thankful, he just flies into a jealous rage and accuses his wife of having an affair with him. He also throws a fit over getting a nice surprise party.
Julia
Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S.
- Played By: Jennifer Aniston
Dale's boss. A sexually harassing and lustful dentist.
- Bad Boss: To Dale, as she is constantly sexually harassing him, raped him while he was unconscious, and threatens to seduce Dale's wife.
- Batman Gambit: In Horrible Bosses 2, Julia enters herself into a sex addicts rehab center. Not to actually get some help but so that she could find more people to sleep with.
- Depraved Bisexual: As if committing sexual harassment (repeatedly), blackmail, and eventually rape on one of her male employees wasn't enough, she plans to seduce the guy's wife as well.
- Depraved Dentist: She raped Dale while he was unconscious during a dental procedure, aside from all the sexual harassment. She also has had her way with a countless amount of sedated patients.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Very much averted, as the movie plays it up for creep factor and Dale is very distressed by her treatment. On the other hand, Nick and Kurt both end up sleeping with her, and Nick actually ends up falling in love with her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She feels genuinely bad for ruining Dale's marriage in the second film and explains to Stacy what happened while Dale is in a coma.
- Karma Houdini: Double subverted. She ends the first film being the only one of the three horrible bosses neither in jail nor dead, but Dale is able to blackmail her. Come the second film she raped Dale when he was in a coma and had an sex with Dale's wife, an affair that she is very willing and able to continue.
- Ms. Fanservice: Julia dresses in some form-fitting clothing, and in one scene she is appeared almost naked in front of Dale as she called the latter in to her office to talk him.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: She refers to Dale as a "faggot" for rejecting sex with her, implying a homophobic streak to her.
Bobby
Bobby Pellit
- Played By: Colin Farrell
Kurt's boss. The son of the late boss of a chemical company, he is a drug-addicted, party-hard and sexually active manchild who doesn't really cares about the company and its employees.
- Asshole Victim: He gets shot by Harken halfway through the first movie.
- Bad Boss: Becomes Kurt's early on in the first movie after Jack's death.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Flat-out tells Kurt he sees the company as nothing but his personal ATM, and plans to maximize profit no matter who gets hurt.
- Expy: He is similar to Les Grossman in appearance and personality.
- Freudian Excuse: It's implied that his dad was never as close to him as he is with Kurt.
- The Hedonist: After becoming boss of Pellit Chemicals, he spends his days partying with women in his office.
- Hookers and Blow: He brings hookers to his house and workplace, on top of doing a lot of coke.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Bobby's father was an upstanding Benevolent Boss who genuinely cared about his employees and ran his company responsibly. Bobby is a selfish coke-head who makes no secret of his plans to cut corners in his operations and lay off employees to squeeze every ounce of profit out of the company before gutting it completely and retiring.
- Kavorka Man: He's portrayed by a beauty-inverted Colin Farrell, and hooks up with pretty women.
- Kick the Dog: Forces Kurt to make a Sadistic Choice in regards who to fire for petty (and illegal) reasons, then tells the whole office that it was all Kurt's idea.
- Nepotism: Really look at what this guy does with his father's company, then just try to say with a straight face that this isn't how he got control of it. You will find it physically impossible to do so.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Wants to fire a wheelchair-using employee because he's creeped out by him (and so he can take his handicapped parking space), laughs about "[Bolivian] tribesmen get[ting] cancer" because of his business decisions, and uses homophobic insults on Kurt.
- Psychopathic Manchild: He's selfish, irresponsible, crass, throws homophobic slurs at Kurt, and doesn't give a shit about poisoning Bolivians, all the while acting like a spoiled 12 year old (and 12 is being generous).
- Sadistic Choice: He forces Kurt to either fire an overweight woman who they think is pregnant, fire a handicapped man, or all three of them get fired.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Almost immediately after becoming the boss, Bobby plans to lay people off and cut corners in their operations, and he makes no secret that he hates the company and wants to gut it completely.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: It's implied that he resents Kurt in particular because of the close relationship the latter had with his father.
Other Characters
"Motherfucker" Jones
Dean "Motherfucker" Jones
- Played By: Jamie Foxx
A criminal who "trains" the protagonists.
- Greed: His main personality trait. His nickname comes from his attempt to empty his mother's pockets.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may a low-life seeking to get as much cash as he can, but he does seem to be on friendly terms with the trio as he does offer them advice as promised when he payed them and even went out of his way thing to help them deal with some issues they had, like recording Julia to help Dale blackmail her into stop sexually harassing him and trying to help them expose Rex.
- Karma Houdini: He gets away with $5,000 in the first movie from merely Nick, Dale, and Kurt's own pockets. In the sequel, he steals $5,000,000 in cash which he uses to invest in Pinkberry.
- Mistaken for Badass: He acts tough and the protagonists think he's an intimidating criminal at first, but he's really a big softie.
- The Obi-Wannabe: He overcharges the trio for criminal advice which isn't even any good. He knows his advice is not superb; he just wants to cheat them out of their money.
- Scary Black Man: Played for Laughs. He has a very tough appearance, always talking seriously, and he sometimes intimidates the trio.
Jack Pellit
- Played By: Donald Sutherland
The late boss of Kurt and the chemical company he ran, he was also the father to Bobby Pellit.
- Benevolent Boss: Jack cared about his employees and tried to ran his company with environmental awareness.
- A Father to His Men: He held Kurt in high consideration, like a son, something that Bobby never liked.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Jack is perfectly fine with the company spending extra money to ensure they're responsibly taking care of their waste products.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Leaving his "coke-head son" in charge of his company after his passing wasn't a good idea.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The only one in the entire series.
Kenny Sommerfeld
- Played By: P.J. Byrne
A broke guy who befriends Nick, Dale, and Kurt but also begs them for money. Whenever the three men are depressed, they remind themselves at least they're not Kenny.
- Basement-Dweller: It is implied he and his wife are living at his mother's.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: He went straight to working for Lehman Brothers after graduating from Yale, making the high six figures, but due to the company's bankruptcy, he's gone broke. But then to be completely broke after making that kind of income is his fault as well because he should've saved up for the future.
- Lower-Class Lout: Kenny is a painful reminder to Nick, Dale, and Kurt that quitting their jobs just to escape their abusive authorities is not an option because they'd have no income and wind up like him.
- Riches to Rags: He went from being a wealthy Lehman Brothers employee to hitting up his former classmates for spare change.
Gregory
Gregory (real name Atmanand)
- Played By: Brian George
- The Voice: He's in a call center in India. We only hear him talk through the car's speakers.
Rhonda Harken
- Played By: Julie Bowen
The blond and naïve bombshell wife of David Harken.
- Dumb Blonde: She miserably conceals any evidence she cheats on her husband.
- Nice Girl: Though she cheats on her husband, she is very kind to everyone she encounters.
- Really Gets Around: She regularly cheats on her husband, and is shown to be very easy to score with, as she gives Kurt a blowjob on their first night meeting each other and is later exiting the bathroom after Kurt with a mouthful of semen.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: She is an extremely attractive woman, in contrast to her unattractive (both inside and out) husband.
Rex Hanson
- Played By: Chris Pine
The son of Bert Hanson. He plans to help the main trio with their business with a forced ransom and dethrone his father.
- Big Bad: Of the second movie. He wants to take his father's business (because his father is worth billions of dollars) and kills him, framing Kurt, Nick, and Dale for the assassination.
- Entitled Bastard: He thinks he's entitled to a share of his dad's money.
- Evil Laugh: When he kills his father for refusing to deliver the blackmail money.
- Freudian Excuse: His dad openly loves money more than him.
- Hidden Depths: Rex is capable of coming up with convoluted plans very quickly.
- It's All About Me: Resorts to KILLING (his weapon is a Colt Python) for the pursuit of money.
- Mean Boss: He pretends to fire his housekeeper for not drying out his kitchen sink. Even though it was a joke, he still likes to mess with her in a mean-spirited way.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Acts like a child, always begging for money from his dad and crying when he doesn't get it.
- Spoiled Brat: He cried over his dad refusing to pay the $5 million blackmail bond.
Bert Hanson
- Played By: Christoph Waltz
An investor that helps at first with the main trio's rising business in the second film.
- Asshole Victim: No one will miss him.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: While already a billionaire, he swindled Nick, Dale, and Kurt out of their money and business just to get even slightly richer.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He is set up to be the Big Bad, but gets killed off by Rex.
- Hate Sink: He's arguably even more despicable than Harken, as he is willing to destroy others' livelihoods for money.
- Jerkass: He's a greedy con artist.
- Smug Snake: He screws the guys over with a smile on his face and absolutely no remorse.
