The Downside of Jennifer Aniston Being Hot for Your Penis

“Horrible Bosses” is a study in mediocrity, a mostly-forgettable film with only a handful of genuinely funny moments. But “mostly-forgettable” is an apt description, because the casting of Jennifer Aniston as a fairly repellant doctor who relentlessly sexually harasses her assistant is something that absolutely fascinates and stays with me.

We often hear from people who are wont to hem and haw about the scourge of sexual harassment  that harassment is something only men do and that only unattractive men pay a price for. Because, come on, everyone wants to be the recipient of wildly inappropriate emails, come ons, texts and Croc-adorned penis pictures if the harasser happens to be hot.  THIS IS COMMON SENSE, PEOPLE.

Now, obviously, if you’re living in the sanity and reality-based world, you know that unwanted sexual advances are unpleasant no matter how attractive the harasser is. And if you’re living in that world, you might find the casting of Jennifer Aniston–with her Hollywood-approved hotness–as an aggressive and aggressively unappealing sexual harasser rather interesting.

Maybe it’s just me, but in a film that’s hardly political or feminist (the offending character is frequently referred to as a “bitch”)…or even interesting most of the time…Jennifer Aniston’s character comes across as an oddly bold statement. Sure her harassment is played for laughs– this is a comedy, not a drama; but the filmmakers are crystal clear in making sure the audience knows that her behavior is not just inappropriate, it’s traumatizing. I think that’s actually kinda neat and definitely not forgettable.

In other news, I’d like to thank everyone for their Blug suggestions and your comments about movies you’ve reevaluted. I will try to get to your comments, but I wanted to know I read the thread and your responses were awesome.