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McCarthy is a Boss, Her Script Isn't

"The Boss" begins with a prologue of a young Michelle Darnell going in and out of foster homes. The screen reads "1975", and Michelle is brought back to a home for children. "They said I wasn't a good fit", the disheartened little girl says to the nun (Margo Martindale) upon her return. This happens a few more times and by the time Michelle is a teenager, her attitude as soured. "Families are for suckers!" she proclaims.

Flash-forward to present day and Michelle is now a wealthy tycoon, giving the flashiest TED talk you've ever seen. She's singing, dancing and spouting business strategies that she guarantees will make the audience in the sold-out arena rich. Michelle has ascended to the list of the richest women in the world - the 47th to be exact - and she did it all on her own. She stresses that she doesn't need anyone.

It's a funny contradiction because Michelle may have created an empire but she isn't as independent as she thinks. She can't do basic day-to-day tasks without the help of her assistant, Claire (Kristen Bell). Claire is a single mother, who has been loyal to Michelle but her patience might be starting to waver.

Along the road to her success, Michelle ruffled a few feathers. She has made an enemy of out one of her former lovers, Renault (Peter Dinklange), who sells her out and gets her arrested for insider training. "Everyone does it", Michelle insists as she's being arrested. She is sent to jail for five months.

Upon her release, Michelle gets a hard dose of reality. She has nowhere to go, no one to help her and no money to buy her way out of situations. She winds up on the doorstep of Claire's apartment, who allows her to stay at her home with herself and her daughter, Rachel (Ella Anderson). Michelle crashes on their couch for some time but feels it's beneath her. She needs to make a comeback and regain her status. With the help of Claire, she begins a brownie business, poaching girls from the local Girl Scout troop. Who needs Girl Scout cookies when you could have Darnell Darlings' home baked brownies?

"The Boss", which was written by McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone, who also directed the film, follows a predictable trajectory to Michelle's comeback. There are several laughs along the way, all courtsey of McCarthy, and her ability to seemingly improvise in any given situation. She can make something so mundane, like talking about Doritos, seem funny.

McCarthy has had an interesting career on the big screen since she broke out with her Oscar-nominated role in "Bridesmaids". Director Paul Feig, who directed McCarthy in "Bridesmaids", "The Heat", and "Spy", gets the best work out of the actress. Feig and McCarthy found the perfect balance of brash and heart. "The Boss" is the second collaboration between McCarthy and Falcone, who previously co-wrote the bland "Tammy", and their results continue to be scattershot. There are a handful of laughs in "The Boss", which is a vast improvement from "Tammy", but never enough. When McCarthy doubles as writer and star, there isn't enough time for her to fully flesh out a character like she did in her last film, "Spy" (her best performance to date).

For the laughs that "The Boss" has, there are too many moments that don't work. Secondary and tertiary characters fail to add much to the story, including Dinklage's odd role as a business tycoon who as adopted the Samurai way. The final act shifts quickly from silly-stupid to just stupid.

McCarthy can't work with Feig for the rest of her career (they do have "Ghostbusters" coming out this summer) but that's when she operates the best. With her background in improv, McCarthy has the ability to be a good writer in her. I would like to see a screenplay written just by her and without her in the lead role. She knows how to create characters but sometimes she gets in the way of her own creations.