Like a Boss 2020 * Star

Director: Miguel Arteta
Year: 2020
Rated R
Rating: * Star
Cast: Rose Byrne, Tiffany Haddish, Salma Hayek

"Business and friendship don't always mix". Comedies and January release dates don't always mix either. My latest review is 2020's Like a Boss and it came out last week. Whoever had a hand in making it needs to be "demoted" or drummed out.

Anyway, have you ever taken in a raunchy chick flick that sort of evaporates as you view it? And have you ever seen an R-rated farce that's dirty yet fails to really push the envelope? Like a Boss is both of these things and it makes stuff like Girls Trip and Bridesmaids feel like Oscar winners in comparison.

Like a Boss, with its genitalia jokes, its workplace drones, and its umpteenth filming location in Atlanta, Georgia, is like an 83-minute exercise in which comedic scenes flop and die. Director Miguel Arteta (he's mostly a TV guy) favors a lousy script for actresses who deserve a better one. He also favors outtake-style line deliveries as opposed to the funnier bits that were obviously left in the trailers.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures, harboring a look of feminine pastel purgatory, and featuring an overreaching co-star in Salma Hayek, Like a Boss is about female besties Mel and Mia (played by Rose Byrne and always-in-character Tiffany Haddish). They run a cosmetics company that's about to go under until they invest with a nasty magnate who wants to steal all their good ideas.

In truth, the screenplay for Like a Boss is its biggest culprit. Rambling on about friendship and roaring career women, it feels arbitrarily dated, totally unfunny, trite, and completely fanciful. It brings out the worst in the actors even if they brought their A game or Meryl Streep for moral support.

Bottom line: Thanksgiving has come early this year in the form of Like a Boss. It's truly a turkey. Better yet, it's a turkey with cheap mascara and silver ball bearings attached to it. Dug the title though. Rating: 1 star.

Written by Jesse Burleson