The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

It has become almost unbearable to watch Melissa McCarthy selling herself short in dud after dud. This time round, the talented comedienne, who started her career as a bubbly chef in Gilmore Girls before scoring an Oscar-nom for her breakthrough role in 2011’s Bridesmaids, misfires with The Boss; a crass comedy doesn’t utilise the actresses’ talents in any way.

McCarthy stars as Michelle Darnell; a ruthless, and at times maniacal, businesswoman who went from being an orphan no one wanted to foster, to one of the most successful and wealthiest female entrepreneurs in the United States. However, her reign of power comes to an end when she is sent to prison for insider trading.

When she leaves, a penniless Michelle seeks refuge with Claire (Bell) and her daughter, Rachel (Anderson), but soon goes about rebuilding her empire after smelling a lucrative opportunity inspired by Rachel’s Girl Scouts and their cookie-selling escapades – but plenty of former business enemies begin to emerge, including rival and one-time lover, Renault (Dinklage).

Crude jokes and an array of cringe-worthy comedic set-pieces are what make-up most of The Boss; a thinly plotted film which doesn’t really have a story to tell.  Having already proven herself as a reliable physical comedienne in the past, McCarthy falls short of her usual charms with a rather strange turn as an unsympathetic and filthy-mouthed self-help guru who spends most of the movie dropping the F-bomb whilst dressed in bizarre-looking outfits.

Working from a script that she wrote together with director – and real-life hubby – Ben Falcone, The Boss is sloppy from start to finish. The writing is directionless poor and the comedy relies on seemingly random vulgarity to deliver the punch.

Adding to the film’s overall triteness is the fact that none of the characters are even remotely likeable, including the usually affable Kristen, whilst Dinklage, who was one of Hollywood’s hottest commodities this time last year, has made another poor role-choice. It’s all exceptionally uninventive and dull and even McCarthy’s hard-core fans might find the film’s flaws a little too hard to forgive.