Just weeks after Dumb and Dumber To hit theaters, another unnecessary comedy sequel no one was clamoring for is hitting screens. At least there wasn't a 20-year wait for Horrible Bosses 2, which arrives just three years after the original Horrible Bosses was a huge sleeper hit, grossing an astonishing $200 million despite being an R-rated comedy. That was all the excuse Hollywood needed to get the band back together for a sequel that offers more of the same, only not as dark and five times as shrill.

Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis return as Nick, Dale and Kurt, three working-class schlubs who are determined never to work for someone again (after unsuccessfully trying to kill their bosses in the first movie) and have gone into business for themselves selling a product called the "Shower Buddy." When they're ripped off by an evil businessman (Christoph Waltz) and Rex, his spoiled brat of a son (Chris Pine), the boys decide to kidnap Rex and use the ransom to save their company. What they don't expect is that Rex knows what they're up to and is into it, looking to cash in and stick it to his dad in the process. Hilarity is supposed to ensue.

While the original Horrible Bosses was hardly what one would call a "classic" comedy, it skated by on the chemistry of its three leads, who seemed to be having a good time goofing around together on camera but did so in the context of a film that had some dark edges and things to say about what it's like to exist in the American middle class.

The sequel takes what was charming about the first movie and cranks it way up until it becomes insufferable; the characters no longer interact, but rather bicker and shout and talk over one another in a way that's supposed to be cute and familiar but only manages to irritate. There are cameos by characters from the first movie, including Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston (who continues to embarrass herself, unfortunately, in a role that exists only to be dirty) and Jamie Foxx as Motherf***er Jones. Once a highlight of the first film, he, too, is used all wrong in the sequel and fails to score many laughs.

Enough of the jokes work that Horrible Bosses 2 isn't a total loss. Bateman is still the best there is at playing exasperated straight man and Charlie Day is good at doing the same kind of off-kilter oddball that Zach Galifianakis plays in the Hangover series (though Day's character feels more like an actual person). The throwaway stuff is what works and there's not nearly enough of it; when the movie goes for its big laughs (many of which depend on racism, sex, or, in the worst cases, "comical" rape), it drowns in flop sweat. There is an air of self-satisfaction that permeates the entire affair, and director/co-writer Sean Anders (last responsible for Adam Sandler's first R-rated comedy, That's My Boy, in 2012) never gets a handle on a consistent tone. It feels like everyone runs roughshod over him, even though he's complicit in the whole thing.

As comedy sequels go, Horrible Bosses 2 is more a case of "more of the same" than it is a huge drop in quality. That's because the first film was pretty thin to begin with. If nothing else, the sequel demonstrates that there just isn't two films' worth of material in this series. There was barely enough for one.

• Horrible Bosses 2 is Rated R for strong crude sexual content throughout and language.
• Release Date: November 26, 2014
• Running Time: 108 minutes
• Studio: New Line Cinema