Went to see the new January 2020 comedy Like a Boss. This flick stars Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, and Salma Hayek… and you’d think it’d be a better, funnier film with this good cast. And I gather some people find it funny, but not too many. And not me. Not at all.
Like a Boss stars Hadish and Byrne as lifelong friends, in business for themselves in a small cosmetics store. The store is losing money so they take the opportunity offered by a mega-rich cosmetics queen played by Hayek. Hayek wants to own their company so sets out to break their friendship which, razzle dazze, somehow will make her 51% stakeholder. Can their friendship last the sneak attacks?
So… best thing about this bad movie is that its about female friendship and business ownership. That’s a little rare. Plus it doesn’t revolve around their romantic lives which I appreciated. But honestly the best part of the flick is that it’s only 83 minutes long, probably more like 75 without credits. Because I really, really wanted to get out of that theater.
I really hated this movie. It was aggressively unfunny but would keep giving characters alleged jokes and then time for a reaction shot so the audience could get in some laughs. There were a handful of chuckles in my audience (one or two from me, to be fair) but I don’t think anyone found this movie funny. And certainly not me. I hated this movie. It didn’t work as a comedy and it didn’t work as a basic workplace story where I might have at least been invested in their plot. But the characters were too thinly drawn and Hayek’s character a clownish unbelievable buffoon (meant to be so, but also meant to be funny which she was not).
Hey, comedy is the most subjective thing so maybe this flick might work for you. Maybe it works better for ladies… or maybe it works better if you find its random raunchy humor shockingly funny. If so, great… but I think a comedy should be able to work for anyone and this was just a snore.
Score: 56