Faith is my constant source for hope, and I need it given the state of affairs in the United States and around the world.  On that note, people tell me I should not pay attention to the news, but I remain convinced that knowing what is going on is a good thing, and again, the Faith helps.  Another outlet is film, and many of my choices lately have been of the lighthearted, comedic variety.  They are not good, but they are uncomplicated, unlike current events.  The Boss (2016) is no different.  As a Catholic, I had hope at the beginning with the fact that the main character, Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy), had been raised in a Catholic orphanage.  It is all downhill after the first five minutes, and you will see why.

In those first five minutes of The Boss, we see Michelle at three different ages being returned to that Catholic orphanage.  I wish she would have come back to the convent after later events, but this is the last we see of the Faith.  With such support behind her, you might think that she would have learned something about humility.  Nope!  Instead, at fifteen (Isabella Amara) she decides that she does not need anyone and that she is going to become famously wealthy.  The next scene would suggest that this has happened as she is hosting a get rich seminar in front of a sold-out United Center in Chicago, Illinois.  She tells the crowd that she can help them be as successful as her, but it is clear that she has accrued her money through not always savory means.  One thing that makes this evident is the way she treats the people who work for her, mainly her assistant, Claire Rawlings (Kristen Bell).  Claire is as dedicated as any good employee, putting in extra hours despite being a single mother.  With this kind of effort, she expects a raise after years of service.  To get it, she has to remind Michelle of the promise she made to Claire.  Instead of an increase in pay, Michelle gives Claire a pair of expensive earnings.  The next person with which Michelle has to contend is her former lover and co-worker, Ronald (Peter Dinklage).  Ronald is always spying on Michelle, and when he learns that she is going to acquire stock without cutting him in on the deal.  He threatens to turn her in for insider trading, and follows through when he ignores him.  As such, she spends about a year in jail.  Upon being released, she is left with nothing.  Not only has she lost all her business ventures, but each of her residences and the totality of her property has been confiscated.  Being essentially homeless, she learns where Claire is living and camps out in front of her former assistant’s apartment until the younger woman returns.  Though Claire is not keen on letting Michelle stay, it is Claire’s daughter, Rachel Rawlings (Ella Anderson), who points out that the former mogul will be forced to sleep on the street.  Having pity on Michelle, she is allowed to stay with the caveat that it is temporary.  She thinks this will be simply a matter of meeting with her former backers, but none of them want anything to do with her.  There follows weeks of sitting on the couch in a state of depression, the only thing cheering her being Claire’s amazing brownies.  Before too long, Claire gets fed up with the apparent laziness and demands Michelle do something to help around the house.  Michelle’s task is to take Rachel to her Dandelions meeting.  Think Girl Scouts and you have the idea.  Speaking of ideas, Michelle gets one from the gathering of those young girls and their well-known cookies.  Taking Claire’s delicious treats, she comes up with a way of selling these desserts while giving the Dandelions, rebranded as Darnell’s Darlings, a percentage of the profits.  Another perk of this new deal is that they are setting up college funds for themselves.  With Rachel recruiting some of her classmates, they are set to take over the little girl club fund raising industry.  The only thing holding them back is Claire, who is unsure whether to trust Michelle and leave her dead-end job and the steady income it provides.  Yet, given how much she does not like her current position or boss, and since Michelle looks to have changed as a person, Claire decides to become a partner.  The success keeps coming when Michelle convinces her former mentor, Ida Marquette (Kathy Bates), to invest in the fledgling company.  With everything looking up, Michelle takes Claire and Rachel out for a celebratory dinner.  Yet, as they are eating, Rachel gives Michelle a picture of the three of them, saying they are now like family.  Michelle is not used to this and departs before the meal is over.  The next time Claire and Rachel see Michelle, the latter has created a new bakery and called a press conference.  None of this had been discussed with Claire, who had been approached by Ronald on the way in to sell the company.  Michelle sees this happen and makes that assumption despite Claire having refused.  Instead, Michelle approaches Ronald and takes his offer, and the first Claire hears about this is when Ronald’s people are coming to evict them.  Michelle gets away with this because she had not actually made Claire in equal in the endeavor.  Eventually, Michelle realizes the enormity of what she has done and goes back to Claire to apologize.  With Claire’s new boyfriend, Mike Beals (Tyler Labine), pitching in, they band together in order to steal the paperwork back from Ronald in order to prevent the takeover of Claire and Michelle’s business.  There are bunch of silly shenanigans in this sequence, the long and short of which is that Claire, Michelle, and Mike are successful.  A year later, they have become big enough for Claire to move to the suburbs.

In case you are worried, Michelle is there at the end of The Boss helping Claire and Mike celebrate their new home.  What this Catholic wishes is that there had been more Catholic moments for me to celebrate after the promising first few minutes.  It is good to see a character learn to be less greedy.  Any Christian should hope for such an outcome.  At the same time, it is difficult to watch how Michelle behaves along the way.  It would have been better, not just as a Catholic but plot-wise, for her to have reconnected with the nuns in order to help her realize the error of her ways.  It is disappointing, too, because some of the best moments come in these opening scenes as the nuns are trying to console the child each time she is returned to the orphanage.  It is supposed to be comedic, but she asks in one of these moments what is the matter with her.  Despite the desired lighthearted tone, I was genuinely touched by this sentiment.  It is something I asked of myself when I was a child, being the victim of bullying.  Apparently, young Michelle ignores the care and guidance of the female religious who took care of her.  It may sound like a clichéd response, but one of the things Michelle is told is that all God’s children are perfect.  This is true from the greediest person all the way up to the loftiest saint.  Those holy men and women achieved their status because they chose God above all else.  Although I appreciate the fact that Michelle learns to be less avaricious, she still does not realize her worth in the eyes of God.  This is a wealth only God can provide.

The advice I would provide you regarding The Boss is not to watch it.  It is not just that the story is kind of dumb.  Michelle truly behaves horribly throughout, leading her splinter scout group in a street brawl against the remaining Dandelions, and showing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) to Rachel.  Pass.