McCarthy’s turn as Darnell is as broad as I’ve seen her play, yet the character draws real emotional responses. For a film with a fairly cartoonish lead, and with some silly, over-the-top comedic sequences, it’s surprisingly affecting.

The story and the emotional beats are all set out and paid off to great effect. That’s because The Boss works better as a drama. Released from prison with nothing, she crashes former assistant Claire’s apartment and sets about rebuilding her fortune in the cut-throat girl scout cookie selling industry. The main character in The Boss is Michelle Darnell (played by McCarthy, who co-wrote the script with Falcone and Steve Mallory), a powerful, forthright and fairly unpleasant millionaire tycoon who, after exacerbating and exhausting everyone with her actual best interests at heart, finds herself isolated when she loses everything. There was certainly enough in Tammy to inspire interest in The Boss. It didn’t feel like they quite managed to achieve the balance between the two genres, and the film suffers a bit for that, but it was a movie that showed promise. Tammy was a film that works because of its flawed, underdog characters. Where many would have expected an outright comedy replete with set pieces, Tammy was actually more of a comedic drama with little in the way of wackiness. Their first, co-authored by the pair, directed by Falcone and starring McCarthy, was Tammy. The Boss is the second collaborative film from Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone.

Review the boss movie