Let’s consider the post-Bridesmaids chart of Melissa McCarthy vehicles: Identity Thief (good). The Heat (hilarious). Tammy (forgettable). St. Vincent (good). Spy (hilarious). Of course, the next film is The Boss… and it falls into the “forgettable” category, setting up McCarthy’s next film in the good-to-hilarious pattern. (Here’s looking at you, Ghostbusters.)
McCarthy stars as Michelle Darnell, a money-wrangling, speech-giving sociopath (okay, that’s a little strong), who tangles with her ex-mentor/lover, Renault (Peter Dinklage), one too many times. He reports her to the SEC, and she’s left with nothing. No one likes her. But her sympathetic ex-assistant Claire (Veronica Mars, er, Kristen Bell) and her daughter take in the homeless ex-billionaire. And then she takes over the knockoff Girl Scout group and we watch a movie about Darnell and Claire sparring as their brownie (get it?) company takes off.
Sadly, for all of my love for McCarthy and Bell, the film just isn’t funny. I rarely consider anything with Dinklage uninteresting, but this just doesn’t fly. Again, it’s written by McCarthy and her director husband, Ben Falcone, who also helped write and direct Tammy. Uh-oh. Is anyone else seeing a pattern here?
If anything, there’s something to be said for a billionaire who gets their comeuppance, but I don’t know if that’s clever enough for the populace. Right now, our political heavyweights are entertaining enough on their own.
For those fans who wade through and want more, there’s still an original sketch (Darnell was McCarthy’s Groundlings creation), more Dinklage, and the Gag Reel (sadly, the funniest part).
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