Melissa McCarthy is definitely one of the funniest, boldest and smartest woman in Hollywood. And she proves that again, in her new movie THE BOSS. The movie is about a self made billionaire businesswoman (47th richest woman) who hits a bump, and goes into slump. But she pulls herself out, with help of her newly made "family", and in the process, helps the not-so-rich family, friends and many-many young girls as well. Sounds like an emotional dramatic motivational film, right? But oh well, this is Melissa we are talking about!
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Michelle Darnell (Melissa) is not just rich, but also a "bitch". Under pays her hard working assistant Claire (the wonderful Kristen Bell). Cheats, steals and destroys other's career and her own love. And does a little inside trading (like everyone in the so called rich world does), which lands her in jail. She also ends up losing everything she has made, and literally ends up on street. Since she has no family or friends, but a lot of haters, she ends up at Claire's doorstep, where she finds a shelter, on Claire's young daughter's insistence. But the snobby, condescending and anti-family/love Melissa is a nightmare guest. That's where the real fun begins!
To recover and redeem herself, she decides to sell Claire's delicious home recipe brownies. The inspiration for Darnell's brownies business are the Girl Scout cookies, but business-oriented, where everyone makes real money. This is where the next level of hilarious-ness ensues. Struggle, success, family, love, revenge, and even real action. Empires get made, sold and fought for. And is all quite funny & fun!
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Even though it's a hilarious joy ride to watch, some jokes do seem to fall flat. There's many cliches, and slap-stick jokes, that everyone may not find funny. The dialogues are not as comical genius as you may want. The editing is tight, but direction seems to get lost at times. But overall, the film finds its direction, and does a fine job to entertain.
The movie is heavily reliant on Melissa's shoulders, and she takes that load very well. She's funny, she's crass, she's gross, she's everything. She falls, jumps, fights, exposes, swears and everything an R rated film needs. Even though there's lot of kids in the film, t's quite R rated, aka not really a family film? Peter Dinklage is not very well used, but he's brilliant in his part. Hopefully, some day, some film can use his real talents. Or we can just rely on 'Game of Thrones' for that. Kristen Bell goes all in, in the role. She's one of the most under rated actress of today. Tyler Labine is just hilarious in his short role, a great catch for this film, rather than some hollywood hunk. Ella Anderson (as the young daughter) and rest of the cast is great too. Another thing to point out as the casting, which is quite well balanced, with lots of woman, people of color/ethnicities and a good diverse mix. And it all works great!
So, if you like Melissa or you like female lead/oriented (if you don't, you should!), you'll like this film. If you're expecting a Bridesmaid or SPY, you need to slightly lower your expectation and just go and enjoy this funny movie and the wonderful Melissa McCarthy!