The Boss Review

I was in the mood to laugh. Honest, I was. I didn't approach the new film The Boss with a mindset that I couldn't wait to tear it apart, even if I knew somewhere in the back of my mind it was the likely outcome. I was in the mood to laugh.

It's also important to note that I didn't read a single review of this film prior to seeing it, nor did I consult a consensus score website. I based my entire level of anticipation of this movie off of the few television commercials I had seen, and sure they did a very poor job of selling it but I was the guy who thought Bridesmaids would be bad. Same with Spy, which I didn't love like so many others did but I also didn't hate. I would have been thrilled with an experience like the one I had with Spy here, a mildly enjoyable, mostly forgettable picture that would deliver a handful of laughs. That's all I wanted.

Mildly enjoyable? Not even remotely. Mostly forgettable? I can only hope completely. Handful of laughs? Absolutely void of even the slightest of smiles. The Boss is a flaming cinematic turd, the type of film that had I not been mentally committed to seeing it through I would have at least considered walking out. Could have requested a refund on the grounds of false advertising, since I am pretty sure the genre applied to the movie is "Comedy". Written and directed by Ben Falcone, husband of star Melissa McCarthy, The Boss is a mean spirited and vulgar disaster, which would be fine if it were even the slightest bit clever. It's not. It's uninspired and lazy. It asks the audience to laugh at the existence of curse words and the concept that saying them around children is funny without trying to actually earn a positive reaction through good writing. The end result is like having a drunk uncle around during the holidays and the horrible things he says aren't eliciting laughter, they make you wish he would go home so the uncomfortable tension in the room could lift.

I wish I could sit down with Falcone and ask him if the screenplays he writes are all his responsibility or does he work collaboratively with McCarthy. I am extremely curious who among the duo still finds her crashing into things or falling down stairs amusing. The actual plot to the film is bad enough, but the constant desire to beg for undeserved slapstick laughter makes me cringe. Also, I need Peter Dinklage to stop accepting these roles in terrible comedies like this and Pixels. I need to be able to take him seriously in Game of Thrones.

We have never had so much content at our disposal, between a thousand different channels and tons of streaming services and VOD releases and worthy films being released at the cinema each week. The Boss isn't worth your time nor your money. Stay away, even if you are in the mood to laugh.




0.5/5