The formidable comic talent of Melissa McCarthy means that even her lesser films are generally worth watching. And The Boss, while a minor McCarthy outing, still racks up enough laughs to justify the ticket price. Reuniting with her Tammy director (and real-life husband) Ben Falcone, McCarthy plays a Trump-tastic business mogul who has to reinvent herself after she is sent to jail for insider trading. Her relationship with her put-upon former personal assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) is ostensibly the crux of this baggy collection of comic scenes, but with Bell largely constrained by the straight woman role, it is McCarthy who dominates the story. The trajectory of obscene wealth to personal growth via prison is one that we travelled with Will Ferrell in the lamentable Get Hard. And while this is somewhat lighter in touch (the latent homophobia of Get Hard is replaced by McCarthy cracking jokes about her vagina), it’s fair to say that there are few surprises here.
