I love how hard Like A Boss failed. Failed the audience, and the actors, and everyone involved. With movies like Booksmart, Wine Country, Girls Trip, and Bridesmaids, a movie like this doesn’t fit into the female comedy canon. What sets them apart is having scripts written primarily for women. Because this movie wasn’t for women or girls or anybody, it was the Tiffany Haddish show with other people riffing off her comedy. It’s chock full of tropes and underutilized actors in every scene. We have so much good talent and we get this to start the year and decade?

Mel (Rose Byrne) and Mia (Tiffany Haddish) are best friends who also own a beauty company. Mel is more responsible (ish) than Mia. Learning they have a tremendous amount of debt, they meet Claire Luna (Salma Hayek), their competitor, who loved their “One Night Stand” beauty kit and wants to buy them out. In the process, Claire makes Mel and Mia half owner of their brand and tries to break up their friendship in the process. Hijinks ensue.

Fans of Tiffany Haddish won’t be disappointed. However, this is an ensemble cast with the likes of Billy Porter and Jennifer Coolidge, who barely receive any decent material to merit their existence in this film. Porter has an entertaining scene that is ruined by the film trailer and Coolidge barely has any scenes in the film overall. Like a Boss was ultimately a star vehicle for Tiffany Haddish because most scenes rely on the persona seen in her past films and if you’ve been following, her sit down late-night interviews. I am happy that Haddish is getting her due; but, I wish the material wasn’t as superficial as shown.

The fierce female friendship is heartwarming even with the hurdles they overcome throughout the film. What doesn’t make sense is why Hayek’s character is such an over the top villain due to a ridiculous back story plot which is the antithesis to this movie. The plot read like a sitcom episode in which punchlines or jokes need a laugh track to punctuate its humor. The reliance on physical comedy is an ingredient in the genre and here, it didn’t add to the story or plot. I kept seeing character reactions and choices as mistakes across the board.

To repeat myself – the failure of this movie means one thing. To quote Annie’s mom in Bridesmaids: “Hitting rock bottom is a good thing because there’s nowhere to go but up.” The last decade has provided us gems like Bridesmaids, a film written by women that use physical comedy while also still being about the importance of our female relationships. Like A Boss may not necessarily be our rock bottom but hey, it’s the beginning of the year and we have nowhere else to go but up.