Jennifer Aniston shows naughty, slinky side in ‘Horrible Bosses’
BY DENNIS KING
NEW YORK – Despite delivering some dark-tinged performances in indies such as “The Good Girl” and thrillers such as “Derailed,” Jennifer Aniston is still largely cast in the public mind as a wholesome “America’s sweetheart.”
Much of the entertainment-consuming public persists in viewing Aniston as some cute variation on Rachel Green, the sweet, comically scattered Manhattan single gal she portrayed for 10 seasons on the hit TV series “Friends.” And the majority of her filmography is comprised of romantic comedies and dramas (“The Object of My Affection,” “Along Came Polly,” “Love Happens,” etc.) that play to that perky, pretty, well-scrubbed image.
Which is why her latest role as the predatory, sex-crazed employer in the off-kilter comedy “Horrible Bosses” seems like such a jarring – and daring – change of direction for the bubbly, upbeat Aniston.
“Horrible Bosses” unfolds as a sort of “Nine to Five” for guys, with a trio of gainfully employed pals (Charlie Day, Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis) suffering workplace abuse at the hands of three insufferably crude, conniving or inept bosses and in desperation hatching a crazy scheme to murder all three offending employers. Aniston plays dark-haired, mascara-ed Dr. Julia Harris, a flinty, foul-mouthed dentist who is determined to seduce, by hook or crook, her happily engaged assistant Dale (Day) before he marries.
“I didn’t take the role so I could rid myself of that title (‘America’s Sweetheart’),” Aniston told entertainment writers during a recent press conference hosted by Warner Bros. at the Waldorf Astoria. “I mean, I don’t know where that comes from. There are so many different ‘American Sweethearts.’ I just took the part because I loved it, and I thought it would be a challenge and fun for me to sort of step out of what people usually like to see me play. That’s a label, you know, you’re branded, there’s always going to be something attached to you.”
Still, Dr. Julia Harris, whose “potty mouth” and crude sexual appetites push the boundaries of comic raunchiness, will certainly come as a startling revelation to Aniston’s fans.
But, the actresses asserts, she saw the role as a smart, funny way to satirize male sexist behavior that is often the norm in so-called R-rated “guy comedies.”
“Well, that’s what I think was so much fun about it, being a female in a role that is usually a male character,” Aniston said. “And I sort of thought of her as being like a guy, and that made it really smart.”
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