10 Thoughts I Had While Staring at "The Boss" Poster
Monday, November 30, 2015 at 11:00AM
Manuel here. It feels like just yesterday we were talking about Melissa McCarthy’s poster for Spy (a film we ♥ here at TFE given our love for Rose Byrne’s Rayna “sad clown” Boyanov). But here we are again with the latest poster for the upcoming film The Boss. Sadly, it is not about Judith Light which is immediately where my mind goes whenever said phrase is used. It is instead about a business mogul, Michelle Darnell, hoping to rebuild her empire after serving time.
Take a look at the poster and ten thoughts it inspired after the jump...
- It’s like the Stephen Colbert portrait got a McCarthy makeover.
-“Melissa McCarthy is The Boss” is as good a sell for this film as anything else one could come up with.
- That haircut is so perfectly garish. Like Suze Orman’s hair caught on fire.
- Really hope the turtleneck is more than a mere character trait (she’s seen in a variety of turtlenecks and neck-scarfs in the trailer as well), though in comedy that usually only goes in one direction. So let’s hope that’s not the case here.
- “Rated R” leads me to think McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone are getting ballsier with their projects (but then Tammy was also a Falcone-directed R Rated film and it’s the only McCarthy vehicle that didn’t cross the $100 million mark, so maybe Feig is her lucky charm?)
- Michelle Darnell looks like a great SNL character (that’s why the actress does so well when she hosts the NBC sketch show) but will she grate for an entire film (as can sometimes be the case with her other big screen outings)?
- Fact: McCarthy is best when paired with quick-witted funny ladies (see: Wiig, Bullock, Byrne) so it’s exciting to see her partner up here with Kristen Bell (who really deserves a great big screen break, post-Frozen), but then we wouldn’t know the film looks like a two-hander from this poster.
- Plenty has been written on McCarthy as one of the few actresses who can still sell a movie; but this is reaching Adam Jones/Burnt territory in terms of “star power”-driven marketing, no?
- Part of me wishes they’d have used this one moment from the trailer for the poster because it’s so ridiculous and also mirrors the same 'McCarthy can sell anything' ethos of the poster.
Watch the trailer below and weigh in. Will McCarthy’s streak continue with The Boss, or will her other 2016 film be the one to really blow up the box office next year?
Reader Comments (22)
Between this and the gold Spy poster, McCarthy films have been the only comedies in recent memory with posters that are pretty funny by themselves.
This is the Troop Beverly Hills remake we deserve.
It could be fun. I chuckled a couple times during the preview and the match up with Bell will probably bear comic fruit.
Sadly, it The Boss is not about Judith Light which is immediately where my mind goes whenever said phrase is used.
My mind goes to Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen pretty much immediately and simultaneously. Manuel, Manuel...
Oh, I'm in. The constant turtlenecks started to be distractingly weird in the trailer but otherwise it looks like it should be fun.
Ugh, a fall-from-grace comedy. Looking at the poster (and watching the first 30 seconds of the trailer) I thought we were watching her parody larger-than-life titans of industry, celebrity and capitalism. But it turns out this is a sleeper Girl Scout troop movie? Lame.
Slight clarification: I get that parodying those things is what she's doing AS a scout leader. But why do we have to take characters (often women) out of their element to create jokes? Seems so lazy to me.
I thought this was an excellent trailer, and the whole thing seems perfectly conceived for McCarthy. I'm hoping they nail it this time.
I'd rather watch her be, y'know, an actual boss.
Hayden W.: And who wants to bet none of the jokes in this will even come close to the Dodgeball girl scouts?
I loved "The Heat" & "Spy" so much that I'm biased in favour of McCarthy. I think I love her wig the most. As long as the trailer doesn't include every joke in the movie this will be a hit.
I can't wait for this McCarthy thing to be over. You'd have thought the awful "Tammy" might have dampened the frankly bewildering hype surrounding her.
Johnny: I like that a plus sized actress is a "thing" and not just a character actress, but she IS hot and cold.
Torn between my love for her work with Feig and close to hate of all of her other projects.
A great poster. McCarthy has been killing it. It would be cool of Judith Light had a cameo as a nanny in this one.
The poster and the trailer look funny
Yeah, that poster is sensational and the trailer is very strong.
"The constant turtlenecks started to be distractingly weird in the trailer"
Right? Like, it felt like they were encroaching on more and more of McCarthy's face as the trailer went along.
When I hear the words "The Boss", I think of Diana Ross. I guess that just shows my age.
I have to agree with everyone else who was supremely disappointed when it went from a movie about Melissa McCarthy as an entrepreneur/mogul/celebrity that goes to prison for fraud, and turned into a Melissa McCarthy as a girls scouts troop leader ... ?
I'm honestly not even sure that's what happened. I'm kind of confused lol. But I know I was disappointed.
The Boss makes me think of Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross also. Judith Light playing third fiddle to Tony Danza and Katherine Helmond, not so much.
Didn't think much of the trailer, but I didn't think much of the trailer for Spy or Bridesmaids or even The Heat, and all those turned out to be great fun. So I'll check The Boss out once it hits if word of mouth is positive.
Volvagia: The size of her dress has nothing to do with her appeal (or lack of). "Thing" refers to the baffling hype surrounding her.