About the film (courtesy of Paramount Pictures):
Best friends Mia and Mel (Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne) are living their best lives running their own cosmetics company they’ve built from the ground up. Unfortunately, they’re in over their heads financially, and the prospect of a big buyout offer from a notorious titan of the cosmetics industry Claire Luna (Salma Hayek) proves too tempting to pass up, putting Mel and Mia’s lifelong friendship in jeopardy. The beauty business is about to get ugly.
Like a Boss is the first comedy released of the new year. I am very comfortable telling you that it is the best theatrical release comedy of 2020 so far… It should also be noted that we’re only in the first week. This is a very soft point in the release schedule of movies so if something catches fire, it could stand to reward studios with a handsome dowry. Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek are hoping to deliver a belated financial present to Paramount Pictures.
Director Miguel Arteta brings with him a mixed bag of results in the femalecentric Like a Boss. Here are a few of the things that worked. Tiffany Haddish’s brand of comedy works best when it’s unfiltered. It’s just as simple as that. With her latest comedy being rated R, Haddish is able to be brash, raw and uncensored, which the intended audiences will find entertaining for the most part. In a supporting role, Billy Porter actually stole the comedic show as far as I am concerned. His character was consistently funny, foul and full of life without overpowering his scenes. The third aspect that probably brought the largest smile to my face is the runtime. Clocking in at only 83 minutes, the pretending to be something more than it actually is was greatly limited.
You could see just how this story was going to play out from the first moments of the feature. A well written masterpiece this is not. Everything is oh so predictable and characters lack any type of depth or imagination, especially when it comes to Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek. Neither could successfully compliment what Haddish brought to their shared scenes, leaving audiences to wonder what could have been. I know she was intended to look the way that she did but Salma Hayek was visually distracting whenever the camera focused on her for too long…and not in a good way either.
Despite the previous negatives mentioned, Like a Boss offers up a decent amount of laughs mainly due the ridiculousness of certain situations. You won’t be bored and you might even laugh more than you thought. However, Haddish and company do not deliver a collectively good enough performance for me to recommend that you stop what you’re doing and buy tickets for the next showing. I will say that with the right group of friends and maybe a copious amount of libations before or during your viewing, there’s a chance that you could enjoy more of the experience than first thought. Check it out in theaters now.
