‘Like A Boss’ Review

Ah comedies from January, you love to see it. From director Miguel Arteta and straight out of film studio’s computer programmable script writer comes Like A Boss, a movie that is polished so many times that it becomes indistinguishable from everything you’ve seen in your lifetime (take that double entendre as you will). There are just caricatures of characters, the least inoffensive jokes possible and no proper hardship to result in so many verbal fights.

You know you’re in for it when the only thing shining are the supporting cast. Billy Porter (as Barrett) and Jennifer Coolidge (as Sydney) manage to hit their comedic marks at least sometimes, notably Porter with some good timing and physicality in a cafe scene which doesn’t fit the story but stands on its own well. Coolidge delivers couple of dings and you’d wish that you could say that about the main trio on screen: Tiffany Haddish (as Mia), Rose Byrne (as Mel) and Salma Hayek (as Claire). Their characters are an absolute travesty for laugh providing since their dialogue is dull, jokes are just kind of pop culture references and depth is nowhere to be found.

This movie is especially a bad look for Haddish as her main motivation is just to yell lines (going for the loud=funny hahas). At some point there should be a moment when the director notices it and talks to the actors. It seems though that it never happened once. Something also not helpful is the editing of it all together, the cast’s expressions and positions alter so much from shot to shot that it’s a genuine distraction. All the confrontation in the script is vague and fake, it’s so heightened and goes against both human and movie logic. There’s so much make-up that we never see anyone truly, just a mixture of colours.

Smileys: Billy Porter

Frowneys: Directing, Tiffany Haddish, screenplay, humour

A film about make-up and I can’t point even that out as a positive.

1.0/5