Mr. Movie: ‘The Boss’ is so bad, it ought to be fired

Melissa McCarthy is hot. She’s a media and fan favorite, and is impossible not to love. Other than Bridesmaids and St. Vincent, I haven’t liked her movies. Here’s the key. She was a supporting character in both. As the star of the show, McCarthy doesn’t quite get it done.

But like her fan base, I’m in love with McCarthy and both of her characters, the sweet McCarthy and the potty-mouthed McCarthy. The R-rated The Boss is the latter, and it’s packed with humor we all found funny when we were 15.

I’m not 15 anymore, and this one tanked from the opening sequences.

McCarthy plays pampered and self-absorbed Michelle Darnell, the nation’s 40-something richest woman. Her specialty is screwing people out of their money. But fate turns the tables, and she’s jailed for insider trading. With nowhere to go and all her assets frozen or gone, Darnell is forced to beg her former assistant and the assistant’s daughter for a couch to crash on.

The assistant is played by Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars).

It turns out the woman cooks up a mean brownie, and Darnell persuades her to try to turn it into a mega-money business. Things go well until Darnell — who, as an orphan, was rejected a bunch of times and believes families are for suckers — gets too close to the assistant and the kid.

You can write the rest of the screenplay and ending yourself. It’s been done by better writers than McCarthy, her husband Ben Falcone, who directs, and their pal Steve Malloy.

While McCarthy is over-used and Bell under used, it’s the always fabulous Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) who is abused. His character and — worse — acting are awful. And you know a project really sucks when an actor of his skill level can’t save it.

I love McCarthy, but this one is so bad, if I were her boss I’d fire The Boss.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘The Boss’ is so bad, it ought to be fired."