Melissa McCarthy is the larger than life star of a movie co-written by her and her husband, Ben Falcone (who directs) and Steve Mallory.
McCarthy’s character was brought up in an orphanage. One after another set of parents took her in briefly but then sent her back, indicating she “wasn’t the right fit”. But that only made McCarthy more determined to make a big name for herself and to succeed in spite of her broken childhood. Next thing you know she is the 47th richest woman in the world, a self-help inspirational speaker, an evangelist for taking control of your life and making money. She has moxie to burn. She is bold and brazen and calls a spade a shovel. She is stylish to the nth degree (notwithstanding her penchant for roll neck sweaters), has her teeth whitened and is chauffer driven around by a fawning lackey. But she treats shabbily her PA, Kristen Bell, who works her butt off for her and hasn’t had a pay rise in three years … and McCarthy’s business empire is about to collapse. It is all to do with “insider trading” exposed by a former lover and uber wealthy man in his own right, Peter Dinklage, whom she burnt. As a result McCarthy ends up with a short stint in prison.
When she is released everything is different. All the wealth and the accoutrements that go with it have gone and she has seemingly nowhere to turn. She arrives unannounced on Bell’s doorstep and at the urging of Bell’s young daughter, Ella Anderson, Bell takes her in. Although she is well and truly ready to renew her love affair with America, not everyone she “screwed” is so quick to forgive and forget. That’s when she comes up with the idea of using young girls to sell scrumptious brownies that Bell makes and with it help recreate an empire. Not everything goes accordingly to plan and McCarthy’s past comes back to haunt her.
The film is based upon a character McCarthy first created in the Los Angeles improvisation company where she perfected her comedic timing and met her future husband in the late ‘90s. Also starring Kathy Bates, as McCarthy’s mentor, a hugely successful woman in her own right, whom she has also taken advantage of, The Boss is lightweight, feel good entertainment with several laugh aloud sequences. To point to just one, watch for McCarthy’s first night in Bell’s makeshift bed. So the onus is on fun and frivolity, just as it should be, but not all of the film works and I found it tended to drag.
One particular miss given the preponderance of violence in everyday society, including that between children, is a street scene where mobs led by McCarthy and her cookie-selling rival face off in hand-to-hand combat. And it is not just the pair of them involved in the affray, but the multitude of kids who are with them. I know the intent was to score audience points with a large sight gag, but it simply looks and feels wrong.
Like many comedies, The Boss also struggles to come up with a Hollywood ending that doesn’t feel too manufactured or syrupy. Referring to her career, when McCarthy is on she is really on and like so many of the films in which she appears, in this case the gags centre on her. She is undoubtedly “the big show” and everyone reacts to her, including Bell, who is subjugated for much of the movie.
So, The Boss is a bit of nonsense that you won’t think about too much, if at all, upon exiting the cinema. Just remember to stay on while the final credits roll so you can see the outtakes.
Rated M, it scores a 6 out of 10.
Director: Ben Flacone
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Ella Anderson
Release Date: 14 April 2016
Rating: MA
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television