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McCarthy earns big laughs in low-brow 'Boss'

In Melissa McCarthy's “The Boss,” two rival groups of young, cookie-selling Girl Scouts types take to a Chicago street to engage in a brutal WWE-style rumble captured in excruciatingly slow motion.

The ease with which these school girls and their adult sponsors drop every pretense of civilization and revert to tribal defense tactics is alarming, yet horrifically amusing.

The sheer ferocity of this scene packs lots of shock, a highly prized commodity in Ben Falcone's second directorial effort, specializing in sub-low-brow comedy devices.

This movie contains hilarious vulgarities so egregiously R-rated they can't be described or quoted in a family newspaper.

“The Boss” may be a better written, tighter comedy than “Tammy,” the first feature directed by McCarthy's husband Falcone, but it's still a hollow echo of the superior work the star has executed in “Spy” and “Bridesmaids.”

In “The Boss,” Plainfield native McCarthy plays a wealthy motivational speaker and powerhouse 1 percenter named Michelle Darnell, a character McCarthy created many years ago while a member of the Los Angeles Groundlings improv troupe (along with Falcone and co-writer Steve Mallory).

We know she's emotionally damaged goods. An introductory montage shows young Michelle at different ages being returned to her Catholic orphanage as if she were a toaster at Costco. (We never quite know why.)

Former convict Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy), center, leads "Darnell's Darlings" in a "power march" movie cliché during the Chicago-set comedy "The Boss."

Years later, Michelle becomes a Martha Stewart-esque capitalist powder keg, outfitted with Elvis-like rock star suits (superbly designed by Wendy Chuck) and a quaint Suze Orman coiffure.

The mercurial Renault (Peter Dinklage, a hesitant comedian here), a business rival and Michelle's vengeful ex-lover, tips the authorities off that Michelle has been practicing insider trading.

Off to the hoosegow she goes. She emerges from prison many months later, destitute and alone, having had all her property seized.

She eventually moves into a small apartment with a former employee, Claire (Kristen Bell), a single mom raising her tweeny daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson).

Looking for a comeback, Michelle discovers her return ticket to the big-time is Claire's homemade chocolate cookies.

At a meeting of Rachel's scout troop, the Dandelions - populated by strange characters, mostly the “giant” Chrystal (an imposing Eva Peterson) - Michelle finds her future cookie sales staff.

Other ancillary characters flit about in “The Boss,” among them Cecily Strong's oddly disengaged office boss, and Claire's potential romantic interest Tyler Labine, struggling too hard to maintain a personable Chris Pratt vibe.

McCarthy's comic gifts border on divine inspiration, but the filmmakers fail to do their due diligence in pairing her with a worthy co-star (Bell is a cute, comic dud) or paring down the movie to a crisp, comic pace.

Endless sex jokes become monotonous. Claire whitening Michelle's teeth in her rubber-dammed mouth goes on so long, shock turns to yawn.

“The Boss” may be set in Chicago, but it doesn't resonate like a real Windy City movie.

That's because the film was mostly shot in Atlanta, with exterior establishing scenes of Chicago added.

“The Boss”

★ ★

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Kathy Bates, Cecily Strong, Ella Anderson

Directed by: Ben Falcone

Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated R for drug use, language, sexual situations. 99 minutes

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