One of the “man” things I have noticed about getting older is how hard it is to keep friends. I guess I should change that, because it’s not like your friends just disappear, but instead life takes them away as families are formed, jobs are got, or whatever responsibility they’ve taken on. I remember growing up I had friends to do everything with, but now schedules have to be checked to make everything work out. It is this reason that that I love a good buddy comedy, because everyone wants that, a friend that you can just have a good time with, even if most buddy comedies don’t allow us to have a good time watching them.
The world is filled with male buddy comedies so making one with two female leads is something I can get behind, unless it’s just not funny. Mia (Tiffany Haddish) and Mel (Rose Byrne) are what you call ‘ride and die’ kind of friends. These two have been there for each other since middle school and as adults they have opened their own make up business. Things look like they are going great, but while Mia is the creative one, Mel is the one who sees the hole their business is in. Problems though are meant to be solved and their problem is about to be ended by Claire Luna (Salma Hayek), who owns a make-up empire and wants to bring Mia and Mel’s brand under her umbrella. Seldom though is good things offered without a catch, and when Mel and Mia find out what Claire’s real plans are, it will test and bring their friendship to a new level.
There is a saying that when something is not broke you don’t try and fix it and for a comedy like this, the formula is tried and true. Everything depends on the combination of cast and script and if you get that wrong then the laughs are hard to come by. With Haddish and Byrne, the pairing is fine, but for me Haddish always plays the same character and while it was funny in Girls Trip, the more she plays it that way, the less funny it gets. Like a Boss is proof of that. Now as a firm believer that Rose Byrne can save almost anything, she can’t make up for scenes that fall flat and leave you asking, was that supposed to be funny? Written by Sam Pitman, Adam Cole-Kelly, and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, a lot of their scenes just don’t work and have a feeling like they just threw things against the wall, hoping someone would find them amusing. One of the only saving graces and keeps Like a Boss from being a total bore is the supporting cast, who provide most of the funny moments in the film. This is really not worth your time and while it might want to give you a feeling of empowerment at being your own boss. I would rather deal with a bad boss than to have to see this one ever again.
