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Home / Entertainment

Why is this Melissa McCarthy shocker so popular?

Herald online
13 Apr, 2016 07:30 AM3 mins to read

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Warning: Trailer contains explicit language. The trailer for the movie The Boss.

It's one of the biggest movies in the world at the moment. It's also one of Melissa McCarthy's worst movies to date.

But The Boss took down Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at the box office after it earned US$23.6 million ($34.12 million) during its opening weekend in the US topping Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's US$23.4 million.

With incredibly bad reviews and terrible ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, The Boss has many questioning how it did it.

In The Boss, Melissa McCarthy stars as Michelle Darnell, the 47th-wealthiest woman in the world who loses it all after getting caught for insider trading.

Broke, she tries to rebuild her empire with brownies. The film also stars Frozen actress Kristen Bell and is co-writen and directed by McCarthy's husband, Ben Falcone.

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So far the film has received a disastrously low 18 per cent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and only 51 per cent of audiences said they liked it.

"Even though The Boss is co-written by McCarthy and her husband, the film often strands its title character in shrill one-note caricature, mostly unchallenged," wrote UK's Time Out.

Actress Melissa McCarthy and husband actor Ben Falcone. Photo / AFP
Actress Melissa McCarthy and husband actor Ben Falcone. Photo / AFP

Creative Loafing also slammed Falcone, saying: "They say that love is blind, but when it comes to starring in a movie co-written and directed by your spouse, it can also prove to be deaf and dumb. As in tone-deaf and very, very dumb."

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"It's just early April, but I have an early contender for the most loathsome, ill-advised, horrible executed, most spectacularly unfunny movie scene of the year," The Chicago Sun-Times wrote.

Associated Press' reviewer wrote: "As in McCarthy's slipshod road movies Identity Thief and Tammy, the material here isn't on her level, the laughs are largely cheap and once again, the hall-of-fame comic actress is stuck in a minor-league movie."

Time magazine's reviewer simply wrote: "McCarthy deserves better than this. She can aim higher."

Melissa McCarthy and Ella Anderson in a scene from, The Boss. Photo / AP
Melissa McCarthy and Ella Anderson in a scene from, The Boss. Photo / AP

The Washington Post blamed McCarthy and Falcone. "When the pair get together to write a movie, the result is pretty dismal, at least so far."

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It is obvious that McCarthy does a lot better in Paul Feig films. Smash hits Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy, as well as the highly anticipated Ghostbusters reboot, have given McCarthy something she can sink her comedy teeth into.

So why has The Boss done so well at the box office? Fans still believe in McCarthy's ability to come out with comedy gold. The star just won the MTV Movie Award for Comedic Genius over the weekend, and audiences trust they'll be entertained by a McCarthy film.

But how much longer will that last if she keeps delivering films like The Boss?

The Boss opens in New Zealand this Thursday.

- nzherald.co.nz

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