The Boss review: An exercise in compromise and frustration

It is probably too much to expect a mainstream comedy to sustain the level of malice, greed, misanthropy, and cynicism that propels The Boss early on

Ben Falcone, 99 mins, starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Ella Anderson

Melissa McCarthy comedies are invariably exercises in compromise and frustration. They tend to start very much better than they finish. She is a brilliant and outrageous comedienne – the genie that the filmmakers let out of the bottle early on and then struggle to get back in again.

In The Boss, McCarthy plays Michelle Darnell, an orphan turned self-made business tycoon who is thrown in prison for insider trading. Her pet motto is that “families are for suckers". She much prefers money to people. Given that she treated her staff with such contempt and double crossed all her business partners, it is little surprise that no-one rallies to help her once she is let out of jail.

With extreme reluctance, her former PA Claire (Kirsten Bell) allows her to sleep on the couch. Michelle then sees a business opportunity in enlisting the kids at Claire’s daughter’s school to sell home-made cookies.

Most of the kids adore Michelle precisely because she is so foul-mouthed and obnoxious and has no respect whatsoever for authority. The best moments here resemble a more violent version of the St Trinian's movies or School Of Rock. There’s a pitched battle between McCarthy and her followers and a gang of school girls led by an embittered mum which ends with the cookies being used in novel fashion, as a weapon of war.

Peter Dinklage gives an enjoyably camp, Austin Powers-style performance as McCarthy’s former lover-turned-business rival. There’s also a colourful cameo from Kathy Bates as McCarthy’s old mentor. McCarthy herself has the knack of delivering her most vicious and expletive-filled lines with a beatific smile on her face.

Unfortunately, the gleeful anarchy of the early scenes soon dissipate. With a grim inevitability, the sentimentality begins to seep into the storytelling and even McCarthy’s own performance loses its caustic quality. She discovers that, no, families don’t always suck after all and begins to behave with unnatural kindness and selflessness.

It is probably too much to expect a mainstream comedy to sustain the level of malice, greed, misanthropy, and cynicism that propels The Boss early on. Without these elements, though, the film drifts off into dreary conventionality.