The Boss

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Ella Anderson, Kathy Bates, Tayler Labine, Cecily Strong, Dax Shepard, Ben Falcone, Margo Martindale, Dave Bautista (uncredited)
Directed by: Ben Falcone
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A horrendous businesswoman (Melissa McCarthy) is sent to prison for insider trading. When she gets out, she finds that her business tactics have alienated anyone who might have helped her get back on her feet.

Review:

Tim: I'm going on record to say the Melissa McCarthy-Ben Falcone actress/director pairing is now officially a bad idea. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt (a little) for the disaster that was Tammy. The Boss is legitimately an improvement over that film, but the second collaboration between wife and husband isn't much to get enthusiastic about. The fact that it's better than their first collaboration is about all I say. This is an okay comedy, but you'd be hard pressed to defend it too vigorously.

The whole thing just seems like a poorly thought out idea. You have to blame McCarthy and Falcone for that, since they wrote the movie themselves. A businesswoman goes to jail and when she gets out, everyone has abandoned her. So far, so good. She moves in with her former assistant and her daughter and start selling cookies, trying to transform that business into a major corporation. Oh, and her ex-lover midget wants to stop her. Are you kidding me? It just seems like such a half-baked idea. There's so many other ways this story could have went that would stretch our incredulity less. I don't know, I just never bought into the story at all.

It's never a great idea when the lead character is horrible and unlikeable. I'm sure it was fun for McCarthy to play this character, but it's hard to root for a movie when you don't like the main character. I did think this film took a brilliant approach- the second main character is Kristen Bell, and we like her a lot. She's grounded, believable, a good mom. This mitigated a lot of the issues the film could have had. So, McCarthy can be funny and over-the-top and not likeable, but we still have someone to root for and care about. I give the movie credit for that approach. Bell was very strong here and greatly helped the movie. McCarthy is funny at times, but she's not consistently so. Her character does get annoying.

I love Peter Dinklage, but the guy continually gets bad roles in comedies. I don't know why anyone thought his character would be funny. I felt bad for him- Dinklage certainly gives this his all, but he doesn't work, wasn't entertaining, and wasn't very funny. Kathy Bates was fun for a scene or two, but the movie could have used more of her.

I do believe McCarthy is a funny person, so yes, there were humorous moments throughout this film. That's important for a comedy. The issue is that the movie isn't consistently funny, too many gags fall flat. This is a movie that was far too lightweight, too absurd, and too forgettable. While it's an improvement over the last film, I really do question whether Falcone (who isn't a very good director) and McCarthy have a great movie in them.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Tammy