The Good Boss (El buen patrón) (2021)

[Blue Jam]

Spanish language satire starring Javier Bardem as charismatic sociopathic sleazeball Julio Blanco, a factory boss who loves reminding his employees that they he cares about them and considers them his family, but only because he's obsessed with winning business awards and needs to put up a front. In reality he's laying off workers with inadequate severance pay, interfering in his staff's extramarital relationships, and hiring, banging, then promptly firing a succession of attractive and naive young interns. When his sleazy behaviour comes to bite him in the ass on multiple fronts and threatens his bid to win a major award he devises a Machiavellian plan which will quickly and cleanly make all his problems disappear overnight... or will it?

Saw this at the weekend and really enjoyed it. Like most films these days it's about 20 minutes too long, but in this case the 20 minutes is at the start, and it had me thinking "Hmmm, I thought this was going to be more of a comedy". The pace picks up though and it's worth staying with though as the consequences of Blanco's actions start to pile up and threaten to spiral beyond his control and he struggles to keep everyone on his side. Yes, the satire is a bit heavy-handed (he owns a factory which makes weighing scales, and scales represent justice and balance and harmony- it's ironic, geddit?) but Bardem is great and it's a lot of fun watching his character scramble for what may end up being the most pyrrhic of little victories, one which essentially amounts to buying himself a World's Greatest Boss mug: