Director: Ben Falcone
By Alex Watson
In the right hands, The Boss could have been an excellent Melissa McCarthy vehicle, sadly due to a poor script and an uninteresting story we are left with what could have been. McCarthy herself gives this film a spark, but she alone cannot elevate the entire movie. Many jokes feel too drawn out and director Ben Falcone (ironically McCarthy's husband) resorts to continuous lewd and potty mouth antics to snag some belly laughs.
Christine Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) is one of the wealthiest women in America, but when she is arrested for insider trading orchestrated by former lover Renault (Peter Dinklage) she loses it all. Out of the slammer, she is forced to throw herself up former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) and her daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson). When attending a Dandelions meeting, Darnell sees a great chance to regain her fortune through an aggressive brownie sales technique.
The Boss is a movie that fails to make the most of what could have been a great central character. Flying in on a golden phoenix during a glitzy opening sequence, Darnell is a woman who seems to have made her fortune by trash talking and ruthlessly cutting everyone from under her. The problem is she also feels drastically underwritten, we know she was rejected from a bunch of foster homes but how precisely did she make her millions? Falcone seems to rely on pratfalls and any number of overly long and foul-mouthed gags to make the audience overlook the pictures faults. When Michelle loses her fortune she immediately ends up penniless on the streets of Chicago and essentially takes advantage of Claire kind nature to find a home.
Although she bonds with the sweet yet shy Rachel, soon she is forcing the same aggressive sales technique upon the Dandelion guides. Though there is a margin of pleasure by watching Michelle's foul-mouthed pitch to a room of amazed and appalled young girls and mum's, Falcone begins to use this to heavily. McCarthy has proven a revelation at this type of humour and the movie is at its best when she is taking Queen Bitch mother Helen (Annie Mumulo) down a peg. The high point of this picture comes from a slow-mo street fight between the Dandelions and Darnell's Darlings. Although there are points of hilarity, it just feels a little overblown and ridiculous.
Both Falcone and McCarthy fail to truly find a rhythm that works and for most of The Boss, we find ourselves waiting for them to strike gold. Although there are some nice subplots like Claire finding a nice reliable boyfriend (Tyler Labine), these moments of charm are few and far between. Renault as a character really doesn't add anything or make much sense. Where precisely does his love of Samurai come from? As a villain, he is given little substance which makes way for a flat and flavourless finale where both he and Michelle do battle with a Kanata. This is far less funny that it sounds and it the cherry on top of what is otherwise a constant misfire.
Michelle McCarthy proves to be the movies one selling point and thank goodness for her because her comic ability rescues this picture from obscurity. Although adept at nailing a one-liner, McCarthy is given a heroine that is thin on the ground and mostly resorts to humouring show shallow and self-absorbed she is. Kristen Bell as always is watchable and gives Falcone's film a more balanced feel as the single mother Claire. Sadly Peter Dinklage is once again stranded in a poor one note role on the big screen. We all know how capable he is at playing the villain, look at his work in X-Men and Game of Thrones. Sadly here is given a guy who villainy seems to be nothing more than being a weird nerd- Hollywood wake up!
The Boss is a movie that will work fine if you want little more than an easy ride. Those expecting a more sophisticated brand of comedy are likely to come out disappointed.
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