The film stars McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Ella Anderson, Tyler Labine, Kathy Bates, Annie Mumolo, Timothy Simons, and Peter Dinklage.

The film follows a wealthy woman who, after being arrested and losing her fortune, uses her assistant's daughter's Dandelion Girls cookie sales to return to the top.

Following a disastrous interview with Gayle King, Michelle is arrested for insider trading and sent to prison for five months, while her companies are taken over by Renault and all her assets are seized and frozen by the government.

When released, Michelle finds her home foreclosed and seeks out Claire, her former assistant, and her daughter Rachel with whom she stays until she gets back on her feet.

After Michelle fails to get back on her feet with colleagues she insults, she is soon inspired by Rachel's Dandelions scout cookies and the profit the organisation makes a year.

Michelle, having brought in her former mentor Ida Marquette as an investor in the company, is spooked at a celebratory dinner when she receives a handmade gift from Rachel who declares the three as a family due to her own personal background of abandonment.

Before Peter Dinklage was finally cast, the studio also considered Oprah Winfrey, Jon Hamm and Sandra Bullock as possibilities.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Melissa McCarthy remains as fiercely talented as ever, but her efforts aren't enough to prop up the baggy mess of inconsistent gags and tissue-thin writing that brings down The Boss.

"[16] Justin Chang of Variety magazine calls the film a "sloppy, haphazard comic vehicle" although he does praise McCarthy for doing the most possible to extract laughs from the material.