Melissa McCarthy Kristen Bell Peter Dinklage Kathy Bates
Cecily Strong Kristen Schaal Ben Falcone
Cecily Strong Kristen Schaal Ben Falcone
The Boss
is typical Melissa McCarthy fare (Bridesmaids,
This is 40, Identity Thief, Tammy), and if you like those films, you will
like this one. I see her role in Spy (written and directed by Paul Feig)
as one that shows her more serious acting abilities, and the direction I wish
she would go in her career.
McCarthy has considerable acting talent, and I think it’s time for her
to part with the slapstick persona she is known for and get serious. She is one of those interesting women
who are heavy, but beautiful and talented. The reason I liked Spy
so much is that Feig showed a blended, more complex character, with smarts
overriding klutz.
The story in this film is that Michelle Darnell
(McCarthy) is a highly successful businesswoman who grew up as a foster
child—one that was returned surreptitiously to the orphanage numerous times—and
now has a chip on her shoulder and determined to “make it”, no matter the
cost. And she does, but along the
way she allies with “Renault” (Dinklage), her “twin” in business practices
(win, whatever it takes) and sometimes lover.
When he feels betrayed by her, he gets her
charged with inside trading (the reference to Martha Stewart is explicit), and
while she is in prison sees that her company goes bankrupt. When she is released from prison, she
has to completely start over, and relies on her previous assistant Claire
(Bell)—whom she treated very badly—to reenter society.
This story is very much about
sociopathy—essentially using other people (in the negative sense of the word)
for one’s own narcissistic needs.
So Michelle blithely barges in on Claire and her daughter, co-opts the
child’s Girl Scout cookie project to form a competing organization, all in the
guise of being more generous to children than the Girl Scouts. But Michelle’s rival, Renault (Ron,
really, since he is from Brooklyn) is still seething and out to get her again.
I won’t tell you how this turns out because I
don’t need to; I’m sure you’ve already guessed. But if you enjoy these kinds of comedies, then it will be to
your taste.
I object to this kind of movie on a number of
fronts. First, it wastes so much
talent (the cast is truly fine in every respect) on a story with so much
potential for substance. Second,
it models really bad behaviors too numerous to list and treats them as comedic
material. Do we really want to
laugh at corporate misconduct, exploitation of employees and children, and
physical altercations (note that when men fight, it is admired or at least
exhilarating; when women do it, it’s comedic or even sexually titillating for
some). Well, despite the
considerable talent—and the obvious enjoyment by many in the screening
audience—I have to give this film a thumbs-down.
Typical Melissa McCarthy fare, in which
bad business practices are presented as comedy by a very talented cast.
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