For Melissa McCarthy, bringing Michelle Darnell to life in The Boss has been a dream that is a long time coming. The comedienne first invented the richest woman in America character over 15 years ago in her improv-training days at L.A.’s heralded The Groundlings and one can see why she could not let the ego maniac go. The humor potential is just immense.
Darnell is modeled after the Leona Helmsleys and Suze Ormans of the world and as The Boss begins, she is holding an arena-size motivational meeting with her “fans” and she rides in on a flaming bird to address the screaming hordes who want to hear about how they too can make millions.
She is aided by her assistant Claire (Kristen Bell, brilliant as the straight woman to McCarthy’s off-the-wall antics) and seems to have alienated everyone else in her life on her way to the top. When a rival (and former love interest) Renault, played by Peter Dinklage, is wronged, he sends the SEC knocking on Darnell’s door and she is sent to prison for inside trading.
When she emerges from prison, she has nowhere to turn except Claire’s single mom’s apartment, where she will sleep on the coach until getting back on her feet. Thing is, it takes some time. With Claire’s pushing, she gets off of her tush and escorts Claire’s daughter to her Girl Scout-like troupe’s meeting. There, lightning strikes. Darnell will start her own troupe, recruit a slew of misfit local girls (including Claire’s daughter) and sell Claire’s brownies and make back her millions.
It’s kind of a thin plot, to say the least, but McCarthy sells it with major panache and power. The actress has a gift of making us laugh and goodness is that on display for much of the film. When it comes to ruling the humor roost, McCarthy is certainly The Boss. In fact, many in our screening — including this writer — had a full-on physical reaction to the humor that had us almost falling out of our seats. This is also one of those rare comedies these days out of Hollywood that doesn’t give away all of its humor in the trailer. In fact, director Ben Falcone (McCarthy’s real life husband and writing partner), had so much to mine from with what he shot that The Boss teaser contains scenes that aren’t even in the film!
Besides having a character that is ripe for a full length comedy like Darnell’s egotistical money megalomaniac, the idea of the Girl Scouts and their cookie sales is also a fertile ground for humor. And with Falcone and McCarthy being free to explore the humorous sides of both elements in The Boss, knowing they were going for an R-rating, prepare to have your mouth drop at some of the things that come out of people’s mouths when children are around. Heck, these laughing-inducing inappropriate comments often come out of the mouth of babes as well!
McCarthy is on a roll of late. She was astounding in Spy and with Ghostbusters coming right around the corner, it’s easy to see that she is Hollywood’s premiere comedienne. We all know that her comedic timing is pitch perfect and witnessing her bounce off of Bell throughout the film shows that she is also terrific in a tandem. Bell is brilliant, as she always is, and hopefully after The Boss will get more comedy offers that will allow her to spread her comedic wings. Dinklage too is hilarious and shows a side of his acting repertoire this needs to be further explored.
The Boss, like many comedies, can’t quite hold all of its funniness through the closing credits. It loses a bit of its silly steam, but finds a way to come back to its powerful premise and give us something that too many comedies forget… a chance to feel good about ourselves after one heck of a heaping dose of laughing-out-loud.
Grade: B