Directed by Nathan Marshall
It’s a momentous day at the Wood and Wood Corporation. The highest echelon of management has gathered at top floor headquarters to await an offer of acquisition that will make them highly wealthy. Among them is Henry Wood (Eddie Jemison, King of Herrings), the grandson of the company’s founder, anxious to move on with his life. Illogically passed over for promotion to the head of the company, the top CEO position went to interim president Walt Ford (Robert Forster, Jackie Brown).
As the various employees of Wood and Wood gather in the conference room, which include Jim T. Pruitt (Jack Wallace, Welcome to Me), Dom McMillian (Peter Breitmayer, “Grey’s Anatomy”) the flirtatious Jane Lampling (Zibby Allen), Vincent Brutsi (Richard Riehle, “Jump to Conclusions” from Office Space), Chuck Quinn (Chris Wylde, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and a clueless Temp (Noureen DeWulf). Things get off to a bad start – Mr. Ford is found hanging from a noose above the conference table. A PowerPoint presentation from Lampling takes on a mind of its own and begins to spell out the violent deaths of those gathered. The floor is sealed off and communications are severed. The yuppies are ruthlessly stalked by an insane killer as time runs out … for themselves and the successful merger.
Coffee, Kill Boss has a witty, animated opening title sequence that calls to mind the best of Saul Bass but then sadly goes downhill from there. Most of the comedic potential about corporate life is wrung limp by the performer’s ham-fisted characterizations. Most unfortunate, as Coffee, Kill Boss has assembled a very talented roster of actors for an independent film! The very busy Robert Forster won a Best Actor nomination for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997) to later star in the can’t-believe-I’m-watching this Dragon Wars: D-War (2007). Coffee, Kill Boss certainly represents one of his more interesting career choices … The likewise in-demand Richard Riehle seems to be cast here for his association with Office Space, a much funnier examination of the foibles of corporate life.
Wildly uneven in tone, Coffee, Kill Boss begins in the style of 1960’s madcap comedies but then takes on a far grimmer tone, with the successive murders becoming more graphic and gruesome as the film wears on. One gets the impression that the filmmakers knew they were striking out with their homage to the comedies of Frank Tashlin and opted to go for the “slasher comedy” route instead.
A tired and labored 94 minutes, Coffee, Kill Boss will make you wish you stayed at the office …
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