The Boss

This review may contain spoilers!

This film is kinda like watching what would happen if Donald Trump and Ellen DeGeneres had a child, and that child had a movie made about them. I would give The Boss a 3.5/10.

This film has it's funny moments; but what is best to remember is that this film is only strongest when it isn't taking itself too seriously, a scene that focuses upon the plot or the characters is never really as enjoyable as the moments when Melissa McCarthy is riding a giant bird or Peter Dinklage is brandishing a samurai sword. The editing for this film is really well put together, it especially plays well alongside the scenes the rely upon the comedic soundtrack. The soundtrack really is the strength of the film, the best songs have clearly been picked to make this film as entertaining and funny as possible.

Melissa McCarthy, who played Michelle Darnell, once again proves herself to be a comedic powerhouse in this film; it says a lot that the film relies primarily upon McCarthy to carry the comedic moments of the film. Peter Dinklage, who played Renault, is a bizarre antagonist in this film but is surprisingly works; Dinklage is clearly having a lot of fun and playing things up but it serves to heighten the film after quite a few mild scenes. Mary Sohn, who played Jan Keller, gives a great parody of a suburban mum; her line delivery is incredibly funny. Eva Peterson, who played Chrystal, has a strong presence for such a minor role in this film; she plays a really strong and intimidating character quite well.Annie Mumolo, who played Helen, is another great antagonist in this film; her moments of confrontation with McCarthy are some of the most memorable. Ben Falcone, who played Marty, had an entertaining scene in this film; Falcone's exchange with McCarthy was a lot of fun. Margo Martindale, who played Sister Aluminata, really was the perfect actress to open this film; she made the film feel like it was going to be quite enjoyable from the get go. T-Pain, who played himself, had a great cameo in this film; his performance and introduction of Melissa McCarthy was a real high point of the film.

However the best performance came from Cedric Yarbrough, who played Tito. Yarbrough almost singlehandedly made this film's first act really strong and funny. He played a character who dealt a lot of one-liners and it just worked to the benefit of the scenes he was in; Yarbrough's line delivery was exceptional and gave the film it's strong start. The biggest mistake this film made was not giving him more scenes later in the feature.

This film could have been an enjoyable comedy but it didn't feel like the script had been given much thought; the plot moved either very quickly or extremely sluggishly. There were so many scenes where events just seemed to happen for the sake of it, there was nothing that felt natural to the story. Worst of all was that the characters were all very bland or two-dimensional; this is why character development exists, to show a character move beyond what they were but this film is afflicted with a cast of characters who are the exact same by the end of the film. The cinematography in this film is appalling, it's quite clear that the director doesn't have much of mind when it comes to creating a visual style.

Kristen Bell, who played Claire, plays one of the blandest characters I've seen in a comedy for a while; I wish Bell had been given the opportunity to be at the very least a little comedic. Ella Anderson, who played Rachel, seems to follow Bell's lead in portraying a very boring and generic character; Anderson doesn't show much chemistry with the rest of the cast and they probably could have gotten a better child actress. Tyler Labine, who played Mike Beals, was the romantic subplot that this film never really needed; his character is constantly being ridiculed for being irrelevant and for very good reason. Kathy Bates, who played Ida Marquette, is a character who probably could have been given a little more screen time; as it was Bates' role had a lot of history with McCarthy's role and it was wasted potential that was never explored. Cecily Strong, who played Dana Dandridge, was a bizarre character and performance; I still don't really understood what the point of this character was and her lack of consistency didn't help. Kristen Schaal, who played Scout Leader Sandy, had no screen presence in this film; Schaal's role was irritating at best. Timothy Simons, who played Stephan, played his role a bit too over the top; after a point it just felt like he was copying Dinklage rather than emulating him. Presley Coley, who played Hannah, wasn't a great child actress and had very little screen presence; Coley's character felt like a weak attempt to create a bully/victim subplot with some of the child actresses but it never panned out. Michael McDonald, who played Bryce Crean, gave us one of the most boring scenes of the film; he had no comedic talent to speak of and very little chemistry with McCarthy. Larry Dorf, who played Guard Kenny, was a reminder to the audience that the film had stopped caring by the end of the film; he wasn't funny so much as he was cringeworthy. Gayle King, who played herself, was a very forgettable cameo; she introduced some good content but the scene just didn't play out very well.