The road to the silver screen has not been an easy one for My Boss's Daughter and it's probable that the film garnered a theatrical release (instead of a direct-to-video jump) simply because of the sudden fame of its lead star. As Ashton Kutcher's level of fame has risen because of various reel and real life exploits, marketing a film of this level of quality has become easier.
Miramax seems to have grudgingly released this film in the dog days of summer, hoping that the light competition of the late blockbuster season will prove easy hunting ground for box office success. But one should be aware that even the venerable Terrance Stamp cannot turn this film into anything other than an eighty-eight minute laugh-free fiasco.
While the basic idea probably had some merit before the script was brought to screen (though the idea itself was in "turnaround" for a while at New Line before Miramax picked it up and filmed it), the result is nothing less that a confusing mess of awkward jokes and strange humor that really never gets the punch-line right. It's certain that a good number of viewers will probably laugh at the inane bodily function jokes, but even the crude American Pie style humor is usually bland. Director David Zucker continues his slide into comedic obscurity (did we really need Basketball?) with writer David Dorfman's horridly unfunny material.
As the writer of the mediocre cinematic effort, Anger Management, Dorfman need pen only one more lifeless comedy to attain the status of a No Talent In Comedy Writing screenwriter. It's possible that Dorfman created a truly hilarious script that just didn't translate to film correctly, but why would New Line have held on to the project for so long without putting it into production? And Miramax, the eventual production company responsible for the film, usually has more sense in choosing their theatrical material.
When one wanders beyond the idea of the film (into plot territory), the film suddenly seems entirely suited to the thin base for a sitcom on television. Except for the fact that the "comedy" in sitcom would be missing. Which would make this movie a Sit. As in you sit for far too long in your chair while waiting for the end credits to appear.
The bottom line is that this film just isn't that funny. It's a comedy and so its main purpose in life should be to make the audience howl with laughter, but viewers are much more likely to groan when they realize that even the film's scant eighty-eight minutes drags on to eternity. Ashton Kutcher and Terrance Stamp have a few admirable comedic moments, but are hardly a comic duo.
While one can't fault the production values on the film, a pretty set and competent cinematography can hardly make up for a complete lack of juicy comedic offerings. And since Tara Reid and Ashton Kutcher are missing the necessary element of romantic believability, the film can't rely on their interactions together to keep the narrative flowing. Not that the narrative is all that beefy anyway. Often the plot is just a device to propel the story to the next joke or funny scene, as it is in this film, except you never get to the funny scene.
The humor in this film is mostly uncomfortably rude and in bad-taste. You won't really care about what happens to the characters (as nobody is really that sympathetic a person), so the fact that it's difficult to laugh at the characters let alone with them really pounds home the fact that the film is a weak offering in the comedy arena and should probably be avoided.
Review by Kelsey Wyatt.
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