The Stream: Predictable and laughs are few and far between, though I think they are trying

The Big Screen: Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne have good on-screen chemistry

The Final Bill: If you don’t mind knowing everything that’s going to happen from minute one and realize that every joke is obvious and unfunny, then sure whatever.

-Trip Fontaine

Starring: Rose Byrne, Tiffany Haddish, Salma Hayek
Director: Miguel Arteta
Rating: R (language and a little pot smoking)
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 83 minutes
Movie Trailers: Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar; The Lovebirds; The Gentlemen; A Quiet Place: Part II

And the January doldrums at the movie theater begin. Like A Boss is a feeble, predictable buddy comedy that retreads an old premise, does absolutely nothing new and only succeeds in its pairing of its stars, Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne. The basic premise is that two life-long friends own a make-up company, Mia & Mel, that’s falling on hard financial times when they get approached by a cosmetics mogul played by a be-wigged, Salma Hayek. Hijinks ensue! And, do they learn a lesson about friendship? Miguel Arteta has directed this derivative comedy and not really found anything worthy of your time or the stars.

There are very few bright spots here. Rose Byrne is an unlikely comedic actress. She’s been good in supporting roles in Bridesmaids and Neighbors. There are bigger comedy stars, but Byrne has her niche. She does well here as desperate and downtrodden, in a funny way. Although a bigger personality, Tiffany Haddish falls in line with Byrne’s rhythms and they ultimately work well together. I wish there was a better project for them. I’ll also note that Billy Porter has some good scenes and gets some laughs. The problem with the scenes with Porter is that they are in the trailer and TV commercials, so you know exactly what’s coming.

Like a Boss does zip by. While being very formulaic and predictable, the movie does not linger on anything. In fact, the end comes very fast on the heels of the final confrontation. (You know how these movies go!) At one point, the characters mention weeks have gone by but it had barely been a minute of movie time. It was all very slight, not surprising and not funny enough to be worth it.

All of the talents involved have better movies or TV projects that you could watch. Watch Girls Trip for a 20th time for your Tiffany Haddish fix. Rose Byrne is better in Neighbors or Bridesmaids or Spy. Check out Salma Hayek in Beatriz at Dinner, which was also directed by Miguel Arteta. I will say that there was a group of raucous, probably drunk, ladies in the theater I was in, who cackled, howled and talked through much of the movie.

If you must, grab your drunk girlfriends and run the movie in the background on your girls’ night in this summer, but skip it in the theater. It’s not even worth the 83 or so minutes.