By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
Leslie Nielsen and Ashton Kutcher in a scene from 'My Boss's Daughter'. - Contributed
MY BOSS'S Daughter has a ridiculously convoluted plot which tries to cram a list of screwball characters into the same script. There is the sociopathic father/boss, the crazy-needy assistant, the bimbo (who actually has no reason to be in the movie other than that she carries her ample bosom with her), a gangster, a loser brother and a high owl.
Directed by David Zucker (Airplane, Ruthless People, Scary Movie III), My Boss's Daughter stars Ashton Kutcher and Tara Reid. The romantic comedy manages to scrape the bottom of the barrel for this very low-brow comedy, which depends heavily on violence, urine, and any other excrement it can dig up and throw on, all in the name of mindless fun.
Within 15 minutes of the start of My Boss's Daughter, the predictability kicks in and from there it is simply a matter of following one hackneyed gag after the other. It would not be surprising if one found oneself asking in the middle of My Boss's Daughter, 'Dude, where's the script?'. Momentarily amusing, My Boss's Daughter does not have that much to work with.
Kutcher plays Tom, a wannabe publisher who has made being a doormat (and part-time brown noser) his chosen career. He happens to fall in love, or lust, with his boss's daughter (Reid) and in a classic mixed signal escapade is convinced to house-sit for her father (Terence Stamp).
RACIAL JOKES
Interestingly, the movie uses 'There are some things you just shouldn't do', and evidently, My Boss's Daughter is one of those things. It tries to be smart with the racial jokes, a brave move in today's politically correct crazy world of hemming-and-hawing about any potentially sensitive subject.
Bravery aside, My Boss's Daughter is only for those who do not need much to laugh about. It might have made an interesting made-for-TV movie, but it really is not worth a trip to the cinema. Rather than trying to scrounge up a plot, writer David Dorfman produces a string of ridiculous coincidences loosely based on Murphy's Law. Everything that could possibly go wrong (most of it only plausible through a cloud of hemp smoke) while Tom is house-sitting for an anally-retentive borderline sociopath, does.
Had the movie featured less of Kutcher and Reid, it might not have fared as badly. Although Kutcher looks like a cute idiot, he was some how unable to quite pull off this role, which was almost tailor-made for him. Unfortunately, the little stretch proved to be too much. Reid's character is far too ridiculous to be worthy of any attention.
Of course, it is possible that if you disavow all knowledge of common sense, you could find My Boss's Daughter amusing. Then again, it really is not worth the effort.
