Review – The Boss
The Boss is a combination of the best and worst of Melissa McCarthy. On the one hand, it’s more over the top annoyance from McCarthy that we’ve seen in films like Identity Thief (2013) and Tammy (2014). On the other hand, we get some great comedic moments and McCarthy once again owning her character like she has in Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), and Spy (2015). Fortunately, The Boss is more of the later than the former, which makes for a mildly entertaining, yet sometimes ridiculous moviegoing experience.
McCarthy plays Michelle Darnell, an industry titan who is sent to prison for inside trading. Once she is released, she tries to regain her elite status by starting a brownie company with her former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell). But in order to do that, she must battle her own personal issues, as well as deal with competition from other brownie sellers and a former business partner/lover (Peter Dinklage).
The one thing I will say about McCarthy is that, regardless of the movie, she always gives it her all when it comes to her performances and The Boss is no different. Michelle Darnell is like a female caricature of Donald Trump. She’s a flashy, brash, arrogant, blunt business woman with fiery red hair. It’s an entertaining performance but, similar Donald Trump, there are more than a few moments you want to punch her in the face. In usual McCarthy form she pushes a joke a little too far or a scene goes on a little too long that turns something really funny into something really aggravating. The rest of the cast is pretty cliche, save for Peter Dinklage, who has some pretty hilarious moments.
The story is standard comedy fare. You know exactly where it is going and you get there without any twists and turns. There are some really stupid and preposterous moments in the film, like a Gangs of New York (2002) style fight sequence between two Girl Scout troops and a final sword fight between McCarthy and Dinklage that is really forced and not funny at all. Some scenes really land though, like when Darnell is giving Claire advice for a date and they have a hilarious conversation about Claire’s depressing bra and sweater choice. Moments like these are what saved The Boss from complete failure.
My biggest issue with the film was the development of Darnell. At the beginning of the film, we see that she is an orphan and that nobody wants to adopt her. Then in the next scene, she’s a giant mogul selling out the United Center with rapper T-Pain introducing her (yes, T-Pain is actually in the movie). There are quick lines giving us a brief history of Darnell shafting former partners to get to the top, but I wanted to know more about her because all we get from her is the arrogant mogul and that makes it really hard to empathize with her as the movie goes on.
At the end of the day, The Boss is a middle of the road comedy. It has some really funny moments and a committed performance from Melissa McCarthy, but is also very cliche with some overlong, annoying scenes. If you like Melissa McCarthy, you’ll love it. If you don’t, you won’t. It’s that easy.
MY RATING – 2/4
Did you see The Boss? What did you think? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.