Like a Boss

A bitchy beauty mogul tries to destroy a friendship in this predictable comedy from Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, Youth in Revolt). Rose Byrne and Tiffany Haddish play "non-sexual life partners" and founders of a trendy make-up business that's in financial dire straits. When a cosmetics bigwig, played by Salma Hayek (all bust, teeth and hair), offers to bail them out, it's really a scheme to seize control of their company. Like a Boss showcases some fabulous fashion and features an appropriately popping visual palette, but there's little equivalent zest in the direction. Although the dialogue is often feeble, it's not entirely devoid of decent lines ("You remind me of myself. When I was whiny, weak and lame," Hayek snipes). The usually reliable Byrne is poorly served, but Haddish gives it some gumption, and there's scene-stealing support from Billy Porter and Jennifer Coolidge. However, the set pieces are cringe-making rather than comedic and it hits the traditional genre beats far too hard. Worse still, it never invests its central relationship with authentic emotion, and, for a film about innovation, it's sorely lacking in original ideas.