What goes up must come down. After a heartbreaking childhood where she is shuttled from foster home to foster home, Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) climbs to the top of the business world, becoming the CEO of three Fortune 500 companies. She then crosses former colleague and lover- turned-bitter rival Renault (Peter Dinklage), who reports her for insider trading. She’s convicted and does a few months in the federal penitentiary.
The problem is that when she gets out, she realizes that she doesn’t really have any friends and has to turn to her former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) for help. One day while attending a Girl Scout-type group event, Darnell gets an idea as to how she’ll return to prominence.
This “Boss” should be fired for relying too heavily on jokes and not enough on story development. McCarthy is an amazing comedic talent but it’s simply not enough to put her on the screen in a few funny scenes. There needed to be more thought put into the story itself. A down-and-out mega mogul reaching rock bottom before trying to return to the top is not original and is not in and of itself amusing.
What makes this film more disappointing is that, in addition to McCarthy, there are some funny people involved in this production, including comedian extraordinaire Will Ferrell, who is one of the writers and producers.
“The Boss” gets a C for cast diversity. Set in Chicago, its cast did not accurately represent the highly diverse population of the Windy City. I did like Dinklage’s performance as McCarthy’s lover-turned-nemesis. Although the film was obviously a comedy, there were no “short jokes,” and he was just another member of the troupe.
“The Boss” is one hour and 39 minutes and is rated R for sexual content, language and drug use. This “Boss” gets our lowest rating: Dead on Arrival!