What's the worst Hollywood
studio movie out right now from a once-prestigious director, starring a gorgeous
couple who regularly pop up in tabloid headlines and sporting a lot of tasteless
gags about gangsters, homosexuality and the mentally challenged?
No, it's not "Gigli," but the even worse
"My Boss's Daughter," which Dimension Films sneaked into town Friday
without critics' screenings — usually a sure sign the studio expects bad
reviews. In this case, their lack of confidence is fully justified.
Despite the presence of cutie-pie stars Ashton Kutcher
and Tara Reid, backed by Terence Stamp, Michael Madsen, Molly Shannon and other
talented unfortunates, this is a movie that boggles the mind: a bad-taste comedy
that makes the average effort by the Farrelly Brothers (mysteriously thanked in
the credits) look like a Merchant-Ivory film.
In a truly obnoxious plot concocted by writer David
Dorfman ("Anger Management"), Kutcher plays Tom Stansfield, a nervous
young executive who picks up a lost briefcase on the train and experiences a
chain of ludicrous misfortunes, starting when a gay hard-core porno magazine
tumbles out in front of his boss' comely daughter Lisa (Reid), convincing her
he's "harmless." Soon, Lisa cons Tom into housesitting, and Tom is
duly warned not to damage the house by his ferocious boss Jack Taylor (Terence
Stamp.)
Before you can say "shades of Ben Stiller," a
plague of weird catastrophes descends on hapless Tom — including the sudden
arrivals of Lisa's pathological brother, Red (Andy Richter), along with Jack's
fired, angry secretary, Audrey (Molly Shannon), her conspiracy freak pal, Speed
(David Koechner), and murderous gangster T.J. (played by "Reservoir
Dogs'" Michael Madsen), who gets burned in a cocaine deal and proceeds to
demolish the house.
To make matters worse, Jack's pet owl, O.J., escapes,
snorts the cocaine out of a toilet bowl and unleashes endless idiotic
complications and a torrent of horrendous "O.J." jokes.
The movie, in true Farrelly spirit, also features
"jokes" about vomiting, toilet habits, racism, lechery, bloody head
wounds and at least three separate scenes in which characters relieve themselves
on somebody else's shoes. By the time we've reached the running folliculitis
gag, in which two characters moon the camera, we've had more than enough. But
the movie won't quit.
"Boss's Daughter" is supposedly shot in
Chicago, which we rarely see — to the city's advantage. Most of it takes place
inside Jack's oddly dull suburban mansion, shot in a drab style that mirrors the
script's emptiness. Director David Zucker, who once, with Jim Abrahams and
brother Jerry made the truly funny bad-taste comedy "Ruthless People,"
here seems to have gotten mired in high-concept hell. As for stars Kutcher and
Reid, they look as if they're having more fun in the tabloids.
