The Shower Buddy may have been invented by Nick, Kurt, and Dale in Horrible Bosses 2, but was it made up entirely for the sequel, or does the product actually exist in real life? The first Horrible Bosses movie introduced three best friends, Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day), who all despise their bosses, played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, and Jennifer Aniston, and vow to kill them. Horrible Bosses ends with Nick, Kurt, and Dale still working the same jobs with minor improvements to their circumstances.
A sequel to the comedy movie, set three years late,r was released in 2014. In Horrible Bosses 2, the trio decides to quit their horrible jobs and become their “own bosses” by venturing into entrepreneurship. They invent a car wash-inspired shower head called the “Shower Buddy,” which catches the attention of big-time retailer Bert Hanson (Christoph Waltz). While the trio’s invention just needed to be a goofy yet potentially convenient enough product to serve as the catalyst for the wild events to follow, the Shower Buddy seems like the kind of thing that might actually exist in real life.
No, The Shower Buddy (Or Shower Pal) Isn’t Real
It Would Be A Great Promotional Tool If Horrible Bosses 3 Ever Happens
In Horrible Bosses 2, Bert makes an offer to invest in the Shower Buddy, which turns out to be a shady business scheme to acquire their inventory for cheap. Among Bert’s plans is renaming the product the Shower Pal, but this never comes to fruition. While Nick, Kurt, and Dale’s company ends up going into foreclosure, they’re able to continue to run the Shower Buddy business. The Shower Buddy turns out to be a booming success in Horrible Bosses 2, but unfortunately, neither the Shower Buddy nor the Shower Pal is a real product.
Dale wanted to name the product the Shower Daddy.
It may have been inspired by a similar existing product, but it appears as though the Shower Buddy was an original idea for Horrible Bosses 2. However, just because the Shower Buddy doesn’t exist yet in real life, doesn’t mean it never will. 2024 marked the movie’s 10-year anniversary, and a limited-edition real-life Shower Buddy would have been a great keepsake. Perhaps it could come out for the Horrible Bosses 2‘s 20-year anniversary. Alternatively, if Horrible Bosses 3 ever happens, putting the Shower Buddy on the market would be a genius (if not costly) promotional tool.
How The Shower Buddy Works In Horrible Bosses
The Shower Buddy in Horrible Bosses 2 is a detachable shower head inspired by the handheld cleaning devices at car washes that dispense soap and water. Dale got the idea while he was using one of these devices at a self-service car wash and thought, “Why don’t they make one of these for your body?” Based on Nick’s explanation and Kurt and Dale’s unintentionally suggestive demonstration on a daytime talk show, the Shower Buddy is meant to be a kind of all-in-one shower ᴀssistant.
The Shower Buddy dispenses bathing products like shampoo, conditioner, and body wash as well as water, and mixes the products with the water for you. The objective of the Shower Buddy is to be able to take a shower in “half the time” because of all the lathering effort it saves you. It’s definitely the kind of gadget that could easily malfunction or turn out to be ultimately useless, but it ends up selling pretty well in Horrible Bosses 2, so it must be doing something right.
Some Movies Have Spawned Real Products
Chocolate Bars, Toys, And Even A Hockey Team
While Horrible Bosses 2‘s Shower Buddy may never have hit the real-life marketplace, other once-fictional products in movies have indeed come into existence. Since the release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971, actual Wonka Bars have hit candy store shelves, having been made by companies like Quaker Oats and Nestlé. The product didn’t have much luck, though, as there was a recall for the milk chocolate Wonka Bar because it posed an allergy hazard by not disclosing that it contained nuts and almonds. Sadly, the Wonka Bars were discontinued due to poor sales.
A much more successful movie product was the Talkboy from Home Alone 2. The voice-changing cᴀssette recorder used by Kevin McAllister to outsmart his adversaries was released as a tie-in product with the movie and became a best-selling toy throughout the ’90s until it was discontinued in 1999.
Hollywood has even had an influence on professional sports. Following the success of 1992’s The Mighty Ducks, the Walt Disney Company actually founded a hockey team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, in 1993. Disney eventually sold the team in 2005, and the team name was changed to the Anaheim Ducks for the 2006-2007 hockey season. So, while Horrible Bosses 2‘s Shower Buddy likely wouldn’t be as successful a product as the Talkboy or the Mighty Ducks, we shouldn’t rule it out.
