A sequel to 2011's Horrible Bosses, the film features Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey, and Lindsay Sloane reprising their roles from the previous film, with Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz joining the cast.The plot follows Nick, Kurt, and Dale as they kidnap the son of a billionaire investor in order to blackmail him, out of revenge after he screws them over on a business deal.
He then tells them that when they are unable to repay their loan of $500,000 from the bank and they foreclose, he plans to buy their inventory at a knockdown price and sell them (renamed as the "Shower Pal") himself.
Seeking financial advice, the three visit Nick's imprisoned former boss, Dave Harken, who says they have no feasible legal way to recover their losses.
They form a plan to outsmart the police and get the ransom money using untraceable phones, a basement garage to block out any tracking signal, and Kurt disguised as Bert.
While the plan is in motion, the trio realize Kurt mistakenly left Bert his own phone instead of the untraceable one to give him instructions.
Before they arrest the trio, Kurt's phone rings in Rex's pocket; the police recognize the ringtone as that left to Bert by the kidnappers.
"[4] On January 4, 2012, it was confirmed that a sequel was moving forward and that screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein would be returning to write the script.
[6] In March 2013, Goldstein and Daley confirmed that they had submitted multiple draft scripts for the sequel, and that production had moved towards finalizing the budget.
[5] Later in the same month Bateman, Day, and Sudeikis were confirmed to be reprising their roles, with Jamie Foxx negotiating to return.
[7][8] In September 2013, Sean Anders was announced as Gordon's replacement, with John Morris joining the production as a producer.
Like the first film, the Blu-ray release contains an extended version, which runs an additional eight minutes longer than the 108-minute theatrical cut.
The site's critical consensus reads, "Horrible Bosses 2 may trigger a few belly laughs among big fans of the original, but all in all, it's a waste of a strong cast that fails to justify its own existence.
"[29] Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "Lots of gags fly by, many of them in questionable taste (some downright offensive) and most of them unfunny.
"[30] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film one out of four stars, saying "This ill-conceived sequel to 2011's entertaining Horrible Bosses is base, moronic, insulting and vulgar.
"[31] Tom Russo of The Boston Globe gave the film two and a half out of four stars and said, "A new misadventure whose negligibly refined formula somehow ends up being more consistently entertaining.
"[32] Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that the film is "one of the sloppiest and most unnecessary Hollywood sequels ever made, isn't dirtier or more offensive than its 2011 forerunner.
"[34] Joe Williams of St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film two out of four stars and said, "Horrible Bosses 2 is further proof that likable actors have to take an occasional sick day.
[38] In 2024, Horrible Bosses 2 gained renewed attention when it ranked in the top 10 of Netflix's movie chart, highlighting its continued popularity.