The Boss

The Boss is a comedy about Michelle Darnell, a wealthy and ruthless businesswoman who is imprisoned for insider trading. Once released, she sets out to remake her public image as a reformed figure, but the people she wronged on her way up are not willing to simply forgive her. With nowhere to go, she ends up staying with Claire, a former employee she once mistreated, and Claire's young daughter. The arrangement pulls Michelle toward a new business venture involving chocolate, though her old instincts as a hard-driving executive remain close to the surface.

Melissa McCarthy stars as Michelle and co-wrote the screenplay with director Ben Falcone and Steve Mallory. Falcone's second feature after Tammy, released two years earlier, it sits early in a run of films he made with McCarthy. Kristen Bell plays Claire, with Peter Dinklage, Kathy Bates, Tyler Labine and Timothy Simons among the cast. Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and McCarthy are credited as producers.

Made for a budget of about 29 million dollars, the film took in roughly 79 million worldwide, a return that outweighed its cost. Audience response was middling: on TMDB it holds 5.8 out of 10 from around 1,420 votes, while a critics' rating of 4.4 out of 10 from 195 reviews puts professional assessment noticeably below the viewer score.