American business tycoon Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) loses her empire when she is arrested for insider trading. After being released, no one will help Darnell get back on her feet again because she has always been a mean, selfish person.
Desperate to re-establish herself, Darnell enlists the help of her former personal assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) and Claire’s daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) to bake, sell and distribute brownies in direct competition with more traditional Girl Guide methods. In return, perhaps Claire and Rachel can help Darnell become more lovable.
We say, “Falcone and McCarthy are at it again.”
HOWE: Just when you think it is safe to go back to the movies, McCarthy turns up on the screen.
How is it possible that a person with really no talent gets so many movies? She must have been on the silver screen at least 15 times this year already.
TAYLOR: As I have said before, McCarthy can act. She just doesn’t. Her characters can be funny, but usually they are sad, dysfunctional, often awful.
McCarthy’s tycoon, Michelle Darnell, is all of these things in very typical examples of entrenched McCarthyisms. She walks the tightrope between likeable and non-likeable.
HOWE: Don’t get me wrong, the film does have one or two funny moments, yet they are when ol’ loud mouth isn’t in the shot and most of the gags come from Renault (Peter Dinklage) or Scout leader Sandy (Kristen Schaal).
But this is a McCarthy movie and you know what you are getting because she displays the list of things she ticks off in all her films: loud, obnoxious, in your face, lots of swearing, especially the F bomb and, of course, the realization that she can be loved if she just lets them.
Can you tell that I have seen way too many of her atrocious films? If you like her sort-of comedy then you will probably laugh your socks off, but if you are any sort of respectable person with any sense you wouldn’t bother.
TAYLOR: Jeez, that’s a little harsh. My wife is pretty respectable and she laughed quite a bit. However, I am in no way disagreeing with your opinion that this film is more of the same from McCarthy and her filmmaking life partner Ben Falcone.
This is the dynamic duo that brought us Spy, Tammy, The Heat, Identity Thief, all the way back to Bridesmaids, where we all fell in love/hate with McCarthy.
Such is it that at future McCarthy film festivals, you could probably show all these movies simultaneously on one screen and have a reasonably cohesive viewing experience. Measured fairly against previous outings, I guess The Boss falls somewhere in the middle. It didn’t have too much improvised meanness, but it did take too long for the main character to learn her lesson.
There were a few laughs along the way for some, not so much for myself.
– Howe gives The Boss 1 “please no more McCarthy films this year, I can’t take anymore” out of 5.
– Taylor gives it 2 trick ponies out of 5.
Reel Reviews with Brian Taylor and Peter Howe runs every Friday and Sunday in the Morning Star.
