★
Best friends Mia and Mel run their own cosmetics company -- a business they built from the ground up. But they're also in over their heads financially, and the prospect of a buyout offer from an industry titan proves too tempting to pass up
Classification: 15
Always a good sign when you don't laugh once during a comedy.
Just dead silence in the cinema and it's not just from lack of patrons as Paramount's latest chick flick comedy is a hollow husk of uninspired jokes and vapid sentimentality. Following the conventional big studio comedy checklist of pop culture references, gross-out humour, directed jokes towards physical appearance and the character's emotional maturity leading to obvious (and quickly resolved) conflict, nothing about Like a Boss spouts any originality. The cast led by Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne are just there to do their typecast gigs; most of Haddish's lines consist of loud vulgar jokes, Byre is the awkward wet blanket, Jennifer Coolidge is the ditzy co-worker, Billy Porter is flamboyant and while Salma Hayek is dolled up with a wig, contacts and glistening teeth her whole character is a shallow sexualised figure.
There is nothing of substance to the film as the script from Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly is just a collection of poor comedy setups for Haddish to yell in as a substitute for jokes. These performers are talented and seem to be having fun together as both Byrne and Haddish have smooth chemistry with one another but there is no depth to their characters or story. Like a Boss doesn't promote faux-feminism like more recent Hollywood films, the main story mainly focusing on the dynamics between women in the workplace without prominent love interests but not being overly preachy with the film being about women. There is a side plot of Mia and Mel having to compete against two dude-bro's for the investment they need to save their company but you have probably stopped paying attention by that point and the film doesn't attempt to make any meaningful commentary on gender disparity. Director Miguel Arteta has the film revolve solely around the friendship and business between Haddish's Mia and Byrne's Mel being threatened by their apparent "saviour" Salma Hayek's Claire Luna. Friendship is the theme of the film and how it can overcome all obstacles but the film's shallow presentation of every idea make the film's message of authenticity against commercialism fall on deaf ears.
The main issue is that there is no character to the comedy, Artera and the screenwriters have compiled a generic scenario for the performers and hope that their charisma alone is enough to fill in the blanks. It isn't as what makes a film work is the passion behind the camera, the drive to tell a story and it is clear that this just a hatchet job for Artera and the producers. Some cheap comedy to throw out and try and relive the glory days when all you needed was a comedian's name on the poster to roll in the dough. Times have changed but even if this were ten years ago, there is nothing about Like a Boss that could resonate deeply with an audience beyond brief stimulation for the eyes are they recognise the motion on the screen.
Though the film isn't badly made, the shots are in focus, character motivation is clear even if narrowly explored and while the story isn't original it is easy to follow but at the end, there is no soul to this and not worth the time. It's an empty film of barren comedy and I struggle to conceive of thoughts to define this film beyond that, It's a comedy that fails to be a comedy and therefore makes it impossible for an audience to invest in its characters or story.
Director:#MiguelArteta
Screenwriter: #SamPitman and #AdamColeKelly
Cast: #TiffanyHaddish, #RoseByrne, #JenniferCoolidge, #KaranSoni, #NatashaRothwell, #BillyPorter, #JimmyOYang, #RyanHansen, #SalmaHayek
Release Date: February 21st 2020
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images from the Internet Movie Database, Synopsis from Google
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