At the start of this film, Blanco is portraying himself as a benevolent, paternalistic employer, 'The Good Boss' he imagines himself to be. As the story progresses, we realise that he is far from this noble ideal. Determined to win a coveted award for business excellence, his behaviour is selfish and cynical. Not that those who he comes in conflict with are angels either - they all have their own agendas, and use a variety of means to achieve them. Although the film is too simplistic, and a little contrived in places, for it to be a great drama, as a dark comedy it drives along at a good pace, and, in Javier Bardem's expressive performance, delivers some excellent humour. Although Blanco likes to talk a lot about the scales of justice as if this is some Olympian ideal he is striving towards, justice, if it is achieved at all, is only reached via a mixture of bullying and blackmail, and those who apply these tactics the most ruthlessly are those who come out on top.
Review of The Good Boss
