The
Boss
Melissa McCarthy stars as Michelle Darnell - a boastful, egotistical,
know-it-all corporate titan who is the CEO of three Fortune 500
companies (she’s Donald Trump with a vagina). After getting the
best of her nemesis, Renault (Peter Dinklage), the vanquished opponent
rats her out to the SEC for insider trading.
Unlike just about any CEO in the history of the world accused of
breaking the law, Darnell actually goes to jail and all of her property
and funds are seized (that’s how you can tell it is a movie and
not real life).
Upon getting out of the big house, Darnell has nowhere to turn but to
her long suffering assistant, Claire (Kristen Bell), and even she wants
to turn her back on the fallen leader, but Claire’s kindhearted
daughter, Rachel (Ella Anderson), invites Michelle to stay with them in
their tiny apartment.
Eventually, you can’t keep this businesswoman down, and she comes
up with a new way to rise to the top.
Will Michelle succeed when she recruits Rachel’s friends to sell
Claire’s delicious brownies?
The Boss has riotous moments of crude, but
hilarious humor. Unfortunately, McCarthy, director Ben Falcone and
Steve Mallory (who all teamed up to write the movie) run out of ideas
and start to rely on silly, misplaced mawkish sentimentality in a weak
third act that almost ruins The Boss.
Outrageousness rules the day when we see the ugly tactics Darnell is
willing to use to win at business. It’s the kind of naughtiness
we like to laugh at in a movie, even if it might be a sly commentary on
today’s workplace and corporate environment.
McCarthy is perfect as the almost psychopathic Darnell throwing herself
into each sight gag and vile comment, while Bell cruises along as the
straight woman who must react in horror as the audience is laughing
uproariously.
However, The Boss falls apart in the last act as it becomes all
emotional and icky. It feels like McCarthy and the team either ran out
of good ideas for comedy, or felt some phony need to humanize Darnell
and provide a softer ending. This effectively puts the brakes on The
Boss and makes you wonder if you should stick around for the
clichéd ending about to unfurl on the screen.
The
Boss is rated R for sexual content,
language and brief drug use.
108 Minutes
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