Like a Boss: When the Supporting Characters Shine Over the Main Characters

Like a Boss stars Rose Byrne, Tiffany Haddish, and Salma Hayek and has a great supporting cast. There are a lot of jokes in the movie and many of them come from the supporting cast and Salma Hayek, but not as many from the two main characters as one would expect.

While Rose Byrne and Tiffany Haddish are the stars of the movie, their characters aren’t all that interesting and they have only some jokes. Tiffany Haddish in particular is very toned down. Normally the writers and directors let her ad lib a lot of lines but I guess in this movie they wanted her to stick to the script. She has one or two really funny lines but she’s kind of annoying the rest of it. Rose Byrne was way funnier with the weirder goofier dialogue. These two characters are also not really interesting in my opinion.

The supporting characters are really memorable and hilarious. There is Billy Porter, Jennifer Coolidge, who work at Rose and Tiffany’s makeup store, and Karan Soni, who is Salma Hayek’s assistant. Jennifer Coolidge has probably the funniest line in the movie. Her jokes are just so odd they make you laugh. Billy Porter is so over dramatic that he steals the scenes he is in. Karan Soni plays Hayek’s assistant and while he talks down to Rose and Tiffany and mediates for Hayek he has slight disgust for his job and hates working for her. This tone is so subtle but effective. Then there are Rose’s other friends, played by Ari Graynor, Jessica St. Clair, and Natasha Rothwell. A lot of their jokes are about being moms and successful. They kind of rub it in Rose’s face and their sarcasm is great.

Salma Hayek’s character owns a big makeup company and offers to help Rose and Tiffany out and tries to steal their company. She is so funny and has good jokes. If she was ad libbing then she definitely excels at it. Her acting was very spontaneous and that work well for this role. Hayek has to try and split up Rose and Tiffany to get their company and her mind games are genius. Whether it’s pitting the two against each other or spreading rumors, she always has a plan. When the two don’t fall for one of her tricks she comes up with a more subtle one. So while this movie was enjoyable, I feel more jokes could have been given to the main characters and they could have been more developed. 🍔🍔