Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt ('Jason Sudekis'), and Dale ('Charlie Day') are three ambitious friends whose main thing in common is a horrifying daily grind. Nick is a financial analyst who's in line to become an executive at his firm. Unfortunately Nick works for Dave Harkin (Kevin Spacey), an abusive, controlling, manipulative psychopath who's out to make Nick's life miserable. Kurt had a job working for a family-owned chemical company run by Jack Pellit--a boss he really liked ('Donald Sutherland'), but Pellitt died and left the company to his unhinged, cocaine-abusing son Bobby ('Colin Farrell') who threatens to run the company into the ground and squeeze every last cent of profit from it that he can. Dale is a dental assistant whose precious dream of getting married and being a loving and supportive husband is about to come true--but his sexually-harassing boss Julia (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to tell Dale's girlfriend that they slept together. The three hate their jobs but quitting isn't an option in this economy. Thankfully with the help of several beers and a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), they devise a seemingly-foolproof plan to off their bosses and make it look like an accident. Unfortunately, the most fool-proof plans are only as good as the "brains" behind them.