The Boss | What to Watch

Melissa McCarthy is the ruthless businesswoman of the title in this hit and miss comedy

Melissa McCarthy is the ruthless businesswoman of the title in this hit and miss comedy.

The story revolves around the efforts of McCarthy's cutthroat capitalist, Michelle Darnell, to rebuild her business empire after getting sent to prison for insider trading thanks to a tip off from her bitter business rival - and former lover - Renault (Peter Dinklage).

Released from jail, she foists herself on her former personal assistant, Kristen Bell's single mum Claire, and seizes the opportunity of using Claire's homemade brownies as the basis for a new business.

Her great wheeze is to recruit girl scouts (including Claire's daughter) to flog the brownies, which leads to a titanic, comically over-the-top street scrap when 'Darnell's Darlings' encounter a rival troop.

There are a fair few funny moments along the way, but the flimsy plot sags and the script (co-written by McCarthy) is crass and foul-mouthed much of the time and fails to show McCarthy at her irrepressible, exuberant best.