The Boss (2016)

Director: Ben Falcone

Writers Melissa McCarthy, Steve Mallory, Ben Falcone

Composer: Christopher Lennertz

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Ella Anderson, Lyler Labine, Kathy Bates, Cecily Strong, Mary Sohn, Kristen Schaal, Eva Peterson, Timothy SimonsCedric Yarbrough

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Watch your assets

Plot: A titan of industry is sent to prison after she's caught insider trading. When she emerges ready to rebrand herself as America's latest sweetheart, not everyone she screwed over is so quick to forgive and forget.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I honestly don't get the hate for Melissa McCarthy.  I love her snarky, rude, straight forward characters.  I've only seen two of her starring pictures, THE HEAT (2013) and SPY (2015), and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them and laughed my ass off.  The first hour of THE BOSS is fucking hilarious.  There were loads of laugh out loud bits that had me tearing up.  The big street fight (probably the best part of the trailer) is a prime example.  I literally had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard.  It's the best girl fight I've ever seen.  The closeline, vagina punch, helicopter spin...and all in slow motion.  Fucking classic.  It's one of those scenes that's literally worth watching the movie just for that.  The cast is fantastic.  Really.  I was surprised by McCarthy's character.  I thought (based on nothing except that would be the typical Hollywood character for her type) that she was going to be a crass bitch and unlikable except for her acidic insults but she's actually a very good person.  Her motivations get in the way and sometimes hurt people but she's not the total asshole I expected.

I would easily give the first hour an 8 out of 10 but the problem is in the last half hour.  It lacks the quantity and quality of funny the picture had built up to and then it kind of falls.  I'm not saying that when the drama steps in that it's not warranted, it is, but it's what happens after that with the plan to get the company back.  That's where it feels like typical goofy comedy stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but it just wasn't nearly as funny as most of the stuff that came before.  It's a shame that the film didn't finish as strongly as the rest of it.  Still, it's very funny but how much you like it is largely going to depend on how much you like McCarthy or not.  And that's too bad because this picture has a lot of great gags and a wonderful cast of talented people.