{"id":7149,"date":"2024-10-25T11:04:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=7149"},"modified":"2024-10-25T11:04:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:04:48","slug":"like-a-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/like-a-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"Like a Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Like a Boss<\/strong> (2020)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 83 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, crude sexual material, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Miguel Arteta\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christophe Beck\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jas Shelton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 10, 2020 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Coolidge, Billy Porter, Karan Soni, Ari Graynor, Natasha Rothwell, Jessica St. Clair, Jacob Latimore, Jimmy O. Yang, Ryan Hansen, Veronica and Vanessa Merrell, Lisa Kudrow.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $22.2M (US)\/$29.7M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: **<\/p>\n

\u00a0Happy New Year, really? January brings with it winter weather, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), a high divorce rate and bad-to-mediocre comedies at the multiplex. The year\u2019s first month is traditionally a dumping ground for movies that shouldn\u2019t even see the light of day much less the inside of a theater. The funny movies aren\u2019t all that funny yet audiences make them hits. In recent years, meh first-month releases like The Wedding Ringer and the two Ride Along movies made serious moola. My theory is that standards are lowered when it\u2019s cold and gray outside. People will pay to see anything that looks even remotely amusing. It\u2019s the only reason Like a Boss<\/strong> has a ghost of a chance at the box office.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I won\u2019t deny that I laughed a few times during Like a Boss<\/strong>, a female-driven buddy comedy about long time friends and business partners, Mia (Haddish, Girls Trip) and Mel (Byrne, Bridesmaids), going up against a ruthless cosmetics queen, Claire Luna (Hayek, Grown Ups), who\u2019s trying to steal their business and ruin their friendship. Friends since middle school, Mia amd Mel have always had a flair for making other girls feel beautiful about their looks and selves. They believe that beauty comes from within and makeup should be used not to hide flaws, but highlight the user\u2019s best features. Sadly, the brick-and-mortar shop they jointly own and operate is on the verge of going under. They\u2019re nearly half a million dollars in debt. When successful beauty maven Claire offers to bail them out, Mel sees it as a godsend while Mia is suspicious. Mia is right, of course; Claire\u2019s intentions are the opposite of altruistic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ve long held that comedies can be funny without being any good. Like a Boss<\/strong> is a perfect example. While far from being a classic comedy, it does deliver approximately a handful of laughs and chuckles. HOWEVER, it\u2019s poorly put together and character development leaves A LOT to be desired. We know precious little about Mel and Mia except that Mia\u2019s family basically took in Mel because her mother was a drug addict. It\u2019s also shown that Mel is the practical one while Mia flies by the seat of her pants. If that\u2019s the case, why isn\u2019t it the other way around with their feelings about Claire? Shouldn\u2019t Mel be the one with concerns about their wannabe benefactor? It\u2019s inconsistencies like this that left me with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s another observation about Like a Boss<\/strong>. It reeks of a comedy that underwent some last minute cutting before it hit theaters. The choppy nature and brief running time (83 minutes) are dead giveaways. The problem is they left in all the scenes that were shown in the trailer, one that played before practically every movie released in the last few months. So what was cut out? If I had to guess, I\u2019d say it was probably scenes expanding on Claire\u2019s reasons for going out of her way to destroy Mia and Mel. Is it sport or spite? Could it be jealousy? Maybe it has to do with unresolved feelings over a former business associate? The movie is also unclear about Mia and Mel\u2019s trio of MWK (Married with Kids) girlfriends. They regard M&M with a combination of envy and admiration. Sometimes they\u2019re supportive; other times, critical. What\u2019s their deal? And if I\u2019m being completely honest, I\u2019m not quite sure what to make of Mia and Mel\u2019s friendship. Is it extreme loyalty or stunted growth that keeps them together? The movie doesn\u2019t seem to know either.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I will say that Haddish is her usual funny self while Byrne provides adequate support as the straight woman. As for chemistry, it\u2019s neither magic nor tragic. It doesn\u2019t feel forced, but it doesn\u2019t feel natural either. They\u2019re fine together, but it\u2019s nothing particularly special. Hayek\u2019s villain is like something out of a cartoon. She resembles a small-size, live-action version of Jessica Rabbit (she\u2019s even described as such by Byrne\u2019s character). The only thing she doesn\u2019t do is order explosives, fake tunnel holes and anvils from ACME Corp. On-Line. Karan Soni, the cabbie from Deadpool 1 & 2, turns in an embarrassing performance as Claire\u2019s creepy assistant. The most laughs come from Billy Porter (Pose) as a sassy employee at Mia & Mel\u2019s. I realize his character is a gay black stereotype, but there\u2019s no denying he gets the film\u2019s funniest lines. Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde 1 & 2) as the other employee is also pretty good. It\u2019s too bad their characters aren\u2019t developed beyond this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Miguel Arteta of the bitingly funny social satire Beatriz at Dinner (also featuring Hayek), Like a Boss<\/strong> shows some potential if you can get past the crude, R-rated humor and silly antics. It wants to entertain and nearly succeeds if you keep your expectations low. I can\u2019t quite recommend it, but I don\u2019t dislike it either. I suppose if you\u2019re looking to beat the winter blues and don\u2019t have high standards, you might enjoy it a little.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like a Boss (2020)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 83 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, crude sexual material, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Miguel Arteta\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christophe Beck\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jas Shelton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 10, 2020 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Coolidge, Billy Porter, Karan Soni, Ari Graynor, Natasha Rothwell, Jessica […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Like-a-Boss-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7149"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7177,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions\/7177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}