Movie Review: Like a Boss

Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne star in yet another forgettable comedy that fails to funny jokes and memorable moments. 

Like a Boss tells of the two friends, Mia and Mel, and their struggling beauty shop named Mia and Mel. Before they are forced to shut down their business, Claire Luna (played by Salma Hayek) offers to pay their debts and buy 49% of their company. As the two friends attempt to appease Claire, they begin to fall out and Claire’s scheme starts to take shape.

Like a Boss is remarkably unremarkable. The film is so bland and lacks any polish it’s hard to believe it’s not a lengthy YouTube video. The film has many scenes of conflict or bonding between the characters, yet they never amount to anything. We’re constantly told of them being friends for 20+ years, but they never do anything to show this. There’s no in-jokes or references to them in high school and their antics, instead they repeat how long they’ve been friends.

In 2017 Tiffany Haddish starred alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and Regina Hall to disgrace the world with the unfunny and embarrassing Girls Trip. Since then she has starred in many more forgettable and embarrassing comedies (Uncle Drew, Night school and All Between Us). Tiffany Haddish shows she is uncapable of changing her material, and instead resorts to fart-gags, shouting obscenities and saying vagina in as many ways as possible. 

The director and writers should be the one to blame for bad performances and unfunny jokes. But the unfortunate repetition of the same jokes in Tiffany Haddish’s movies makes me wonder if she really is to blame.

The most insulting parts of the movie and what makes the film so irredeemably bad is the constant shouting from the two leads. Be it when Mia eats a ghost pepper causing her to vomit on her friends and makes her defecate loudly in the toilet. Or when Mia grabs a banner and hangs over a huge drop, screaming for five minutes without pause.

Overall, the film is not a disappointment. If you go into a film named after a meme from 2009 to be anything clever or be at all memorable you should go and see it. Maybe also your parents can take you to McDonalds and get you a Happy Meal afterwards! Until then, the grown ups can try to find something creative and funny instead of just insulting.

On a final note, Tiffany Haddish isn’t all to fault. She’s starred in some of my least favourite movies from recent times, but her timing is spot on for the most part. Her acting is bland, but it leaves a lot of room to improve. Most admirably, she’s willing to take risks and that’s a luxury we don’t have in cinema these days. Whenever she makes a new movie, I’ll definitely be there. I hope she can improve soon.