The Boss
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The Boss

When billionaire business mogul Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) is sentenced to six months (in a very cushy) prison for insider trading, her harried assistant and single mother Claire (Kristen Bell) is finally free… until six months later, when Michelle shows up on her door with nowhere else to go. Thankfully, Michelle remains hilariously ruthless even when she starts up a Girl Scouts Cookie-esque organisation to get back on top, and her cold-hearted business rival (Peter Dinklage) is even more ridiculous; a serious satire of corporate America this is not.

Bell is constantly exasperated as the put-upon straight man to McCarthy’s self-absorbed antics, while McCarthy’s charm manages to keep Michelle likable even at her worst, which is pretty much all the time: her habit of smiling and pulling people in real close to whisper threats never fails to get a laugh. Director / writer Ben Falcone stumbles during the big action moments (a girl gang fight needed to be more epic), and a sharp turn into sentiment towards the end of act two is clumsy even for a comedy this broad, but Michelle’s range of turtleneck outfits are funny enough to cover both her neck and any flat spots in this sloppy but frequently funny film.

Reviewed by Anthony Morris