Hot Take: The Boss

Hot Take: If you like Melissa McCarthy, you’ll probably enjoy The Boss. If you don’t or you’re looking for something more than a toilet paper-thin story filled with gags, crude language and pratfalls, stay far away.

If you can’t figure out how the story of The Boss will play out after watching the trailer and the first five minutes of the movie, you haven’t seen enough movies. In addition to being predictable, The Boss is vulgar, crude, full of pratfalls and inappropriate humor. That predictability reduces the film to a few memorable comedic moments that produce some hard laughs scattered through the movie’s 99 minutes.

So far, the pairing of Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone have produced what would arguably be her two worst films — Tammy and this film. She’s produced much better results working with director Paul Feig who was at the helm of Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy. Maybe it has a little to do with the person directing McCarthy’s talent as The Boss made sure to cram in all of the things that have made McCarthy a box office success but it never really cared to worry if their placement made sense or helped create an interesting film. (It didn’t.)

That’s not to say The Boss isn’t funny. (It is.) There are plenty of moments that will at least make you chuckle and maybe even laugh out loud. However, the film’s basic (emphasis on basic) premise has plenty that would appeal to a younger audience (girl scouts, slapstick comedy, child/adult interaction) but even though there were plenty of children at the showing I attended, the film’s R rating is well deserved and the language and sexual references are frequent and, with the exception of the pratfalls, the humor is for adults only.

It’s likely The Boss will appeal to those who love McCarthy but it’s hard to imagine it appealing to an audience beyond that group. So far her box office numbers have been strong enough to indicate appealing to her core audience may be enough but The Boss will really put that to the test.

“Spoiler Free” Pros

• There Are Some Hard Laughs
  The Boss hits a few home runs while at bat but there are a lot of swings and misses to look past.
• Kristen Bell
  Unfortunately her talent is mostly wasted but Bell delivers when asked and when she gets an opportunity to shine, she does.

“Spoiler Free” Cons

• A Product That’ll Leave A Bad Taste In Your Mouth
  How can a movie whose central theme surrounds Girl Scout cookies and brownies know nothing about taste? The comedy is in poor taste and there are times where you’ll laugh but feel a little embarrassed you did.
• Predictable
  You hope The Boss will be different than you expect but it never really happens. There’s no reason it has to happen the way you expect but it sure stays on the expected path.
• Peter Dinklage
  Dinklage plays the foil to McCarthy’s Michelle Darnell. As the villainous Ron (who calls himself Renault), Dinklage is wasted. It feels like he was tossed in at the last second as the person who was originally selected came down with food poisoning.