We should be so very, very grateful for Melissa McCarthy. Following the runaway success of Bridesmaids – her role in which earned her a well-deserved Oscar nomination – she has firmly and repeatedly answered the call for female-led studio films, with great performances in great movies. Now, we have the first trailer for her next release, newly re-titled The Boss, and it is clear that this glorious route to big box office is set to continue.
“Academy Award-nominated star Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Tammy) headlines The Boss as a titan of industry who is sent to prison after she’s caught insider trading. When she emerges ready to rebrand herself as America’s latest sweetheart, not everyone she screwed over is so quick to forgive and forget.”
With Ben Falcone in the director’s chair, The Boss is written by McCarthy, Falcone, and Steve Malloy – and features an impressive, all-star cast. Kristen Bell (House Of Lies), Peter Dinklage (Game Of Thrones), Kristen Schaal (The Last Man On Earth), Kathy Bates (American Horror Story), Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live), Margo Martindale (The Americans, Justified), Timothy Simons (Veep) and Annie Mumolo (About A Boy) all appear in various supporting roles, as McCarthy’s Michelle Darnell seeks redemption by leading a Brownie troupe to rapturous glory.
What makes this a significant upcoming release is the fact that this is a story about a successful, flawed, complex woman, who deals with a large number of other complex female characters, while guiding and ‘mentoring’ a group of young girls – with a view to helping them become unapologetically successful on their own terms. This is woman-centred, and is almost guaranteed to be a box office hit, due to the presence of Melissa McCarthy – who is an honest-to-goodness comedic genius.
Sure, McCarthy’s last movie to be directed by Ben Falcone – Tammy – did not do so well, but this is his second time behind the camera, and with Bridesmaids, The Heat, Identity Thief, and Spy already under her belt (and Ghostbusters on the horizon), the odds are most certainly in favour of a home-run for The Boss, which is released on April 8th, 2016.
