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Movie Review: The Boss

Melissa McCarthy in The Boss Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures Melissa McCarthy in The Boss

This Boss should be fired!

What goes up must come down. After a heartbreaking childhood where she is shuttled from foster home to foster home, Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) climbs to the top of the business world becoming the CEO of three Fortune 500 companies. She then crosses former colleague and lover turned bitter rival play (Peter Dinklage) who reports her for inside trading. She's convicted and does a few months in the federal pen.

The problem is that when she gets out, she realizes that she doesn't really have any friends and has to turn to her former assistant (Kristen Bell) for a place to stay. One day while attending a Girl Scout type-group event, Darnell gets an idea as to how she'll return to prominence.

This Boss should be fired for relying too heavily on jokes and not enough on story development.

Melissa McCarthy is an amazing comedic talent but it's simply not enough to put her on the screen in a few funny scenes. There had to be more thought to the story itself. A down and out mega mogul reaching rock bottom before trying to return to the top is not original and is not in itself amusing.

What makes this more disappointing is that in addition to McCarthy there are some funny people involved in this production, including Will Ferrell, comedian extraordinaire who is one of the writers and producers.

This film isn't even consistent. McCarthy's character clumsily stumbles around most of the movie, but then later she does flips and maneuvers like a master ninja warrior.

The Boss gets a C for cast diversity. Set in Chicago, its cast did not accurately represent the highly diverse population of the Windy City. I did like that small person, Peter Dinklage, was cast as McCarthy's lover turned nemesis. While the film was obviously a comedy, there were "no short jokes" and he was just another member of the troupe.

The Boss is rated R for sexual content, language, and drug use. It's an hour and 39 minutes.

This Boss gets our lowest rating: Dead on Arrival!