Imagine this: you and a few selected friends are at a movie theater when a trailer for a promising new buddy comedy comes on. You all laugh and look forward to the movie being released. As the movie’s release date comes closer, you and said friends are still looking forward to seeing the film as the trailers continue to make you laugh. The release date finally arrives and your group gathers to watch the film.
Expectation: The whole theater is in stitches- filled with deep belly laughs that bring tears to your eyes from the first opening scene till the well-timed ending. Everyone in the theater leaves with a smile on their faces and some money well spent.
Reality: You and your friends, as well as most other audience members, barely manage a few laughs. The trailer, while showing some promise of a highly entertaining movie, wound up showing literally all the funny moments of the film (except maybe three or four small moments) leaving you more disappointed than anything.
This little scenario sums up Like A Boss perfectly. What was to be a promising best-friend comedy film with the over the top, vulgar, over-sexualized comedic timing of Tiffany Haddish and the physically smart comedic style of Rose Byrne coming together to take on the over-bearing fashion tycoon Claire Luna played by the always pleasant Salma Hayek turned out to be a real dud.
I think this film falls into the category of one of those films that shows too much in the trailer. When you see as many movies as I do in theaters, it is almost impossible to avoid movie trailers. I personally see more extended theatrical trailers for films than I see short thirty-second TV spot trailers. Because of this, I feel that I had seen nearly all the funny parts of the movie before I sat down to watch the movie itself. One example I can give is the scene in which Billy Porter bears witness to his “tragic moment.” The scene in the film was literally word-for-word in the trailer for the film. While Porter put on an excellent performance, I had seen the exact same thing at least four or five times before. I know the point of advertising for a comedy movie is to show comedy in the trailer, but these movie studios don’t have to show the entire movie in 90 seconds. Take 2019’s Good Boys for example. The trailer showed just enough to peak your interest and absolutely nailed the comedy in the film.
There are some positives in Like A Boss. Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne (along with Salma Hayek) had some great on-screen chemistry and tried their best to deliver their lines with conviction, which really does help to elevate a plot that has been done (arguably better) time and time again. The supporting cast of Bill Porter and Jennifer Coolidge offer the best lines in the movie. In fact, Porter’s and Coolidge’s characters should be considered the film’s Most Valuable Players. They had some of the best lines and laughs out of the entire film.
While Like A Boss is funny throughout the duration of the film, it is just missing… something. And I’m not entirely sure what that ‘something’ is. The trailer made it look like the film would be about two best friends coming together to take on a powerful tycoon, but it was almost the exact opposite. The two best friends wound up taking on one another while the powerful business woman silently pulled the strings from the sidelines. Maybe shifting direction to what the trailer showed might have been something that could have saved the film?
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