Like a Boss Blu-ray Review

"Like a Boss" arrives on Blu-ray with a visually impressive 2.39:1 framed digital image, making full use of the 1080p resolution to deliver superb clarity and rich detail. The highly glossy and colorful aesthetic emphasizes the beauty salon setting, with vibrant reds, colorful dresses, and the upscale office of Claire Luna all appearing with eye-catching vivacity. Colors are deeply saturated and well-balanced, offering an engaging visual experience that perfectly complements the film's glitzy style. Facial details are finely rendered, capturing every nuance, though makeup application can sometimes be overly clear. Overall, the sharpness and dynamic contrast create a visually impactful presentation, but slight issues such as brief crush in background scenes and occasional banding are worth noting.

The encoding is handled via MPEG-4 AVC on a BD-50 disc, ensuring a clean and stable image throughout. The depth in interior shots is notable, adding a quasi-three-dimensional effect, particularly in scenes set in Mel & Mia's shop and Claire Luna's office. Black levels are consistently deep and accurate, both in natural and set lighting. Skin tones are particularly well-represented, crucial for a film centered around the makeup industry, with no noticeable imbalances. The wardrobe and sets benefit from a carefully calibrated color palette, teetering between warm and cool tones to maintain a pleasing balance. Noise is minimal, aside from a brief spike during a makeup montage near the film’s conclusion, but overall artifact presence is negligible.

In summary, "Like a Boss" on Blu-ray offers a visually satisfying experience that meticulously mirrors the film's spirited and glossy essence. The combination of sharp detail, vibrant colors, and deep blacks sets a high standard for digital presentations, ensuring that viewers are treated to an aesthetically delightful viewing experience.

"Like a Boss" on Blu-ray showcases a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, providing a robust audio presentation that surpasses expectations for a comedy film. The track is remarkably clear and front-heavy, capturing crisp dialogue and subtle ambient sounds from office and city scenes. Although the film’s sound design is limited by its genre, the climactic song and dance sequence uses the full surround capabilities effectively, incorporating crowd noise, music, and decent bass to create an immersive experience. The soundtrack is dynamic, though it sometimes demands volume adjustments during dialogue-heavy scenes, as the speech can be quieter compared to the louder musical elements.

The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix offers nuanced environmental fills and maintains a satisfying balance between music and dialogue. Musical elements provide positive low-end response and wide output, especially noticeable in scenes like the crowded karaoke bar, where the soundtrack's beats and environmental ambiance stand out. While the low-frequency extension is mainly driven by musical cues with occasional bass-induced sound effects, the surround sound presentation remains understated but effective. The clarity of dialogue is generally retained even though it requires occasional volume tweaking, making this a competent and engaging audio experience for a standard comedy. Overall, the track executes its role well within the constraints of its sound design, offering a satisfying though not groundbreaking auditory experience.

The Blu-ray of "Like a Boss" provides a modest selection of extras, capturing behind-the-scenes moments and supplemental content to enrich the viewing experience. The standout featurette "With Coworkers Like These, Who Needs Friends?" offers a brief, yet engaging look at the camaraderie on set, particularly showcasing the chemistry between Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne. Additionally, "Get Some with Ron and Greg" delivers an in-character promotional piece related to the film's fictional cosmetics brand, providing a quirky side-story for fans. The disc also includes two concise deleted scenes that, while interesting, clearly did not make the final cut due to pacing considerations. Overall, these extras provide a succinct but informative glimpse into the making of the film.

Extras included in this disc:

• With Coworkers Like These, Who Needs Friends?: A featurette exploring cast and crew chemistry.
• Get Some with Ron and Greg: An in-character promotion of the movie’s fictional product line.
• Deleted Scenes: Includes "You Need Me to Help You" and "Now Hit Me".

"Like a Boss" attempts to charm with a strong cast and a storyline rooted in friendship and business dynamics but falls significantly short due to an underwhelming script and predictable plot. The movie centers on best friends Mia (Tiffany Haddish) and Mel (Rose Byrne), who run a struggling cosmetics company. When makeup mogul Claire Luna (Salma Hayek) offers financial salvation in exchange for a controlling stake, their relationship is tested. The film's premise of financial strain and corporate manipulation provides a fertile ground for comedic exploration, yet it rarely transcends basic, uninspiring humor, over-relying on crude jokes that quickly grow tiresome.

Despite its flaws, "Like a Boss" finds some merit in the performances of Haddish and Byrne, who manage to inject heart into the otherwise flat narrative. Their on-screen friendship feels genuine, marked by a history of shared dreams and struggles. Salma Hayek entertains as the villainous Claire Luna, bringing a campy flair to her character that adds a layer of amusement. The supporting cast, including Billy Porter and Jennifer Coolidge, offer moments of comedic relief but are constrained by the script’s lack of originality and depth. At its core, the movie touches on themes of female empowerment and business ethics but ultimately succumbs to formulaic storytelling and an unconvincing conclusion.

Technically, director Miguel Arteta's handling of the film is competent but uninspired. The pacing is brisk, maintaining engagement despite the script's shortcomings. Unfortunately, the humor often feels forced, with toilet jokes and slapstick overshadowing any meaningful commentary on entrepreneurship or friendship. The resolution – where success magically mends the rift between Mel and Mia – undermines the narrative’s earlier attempts at authenticity. While "Like a Boss" aims for comedic escapism, it often ends up reinforcing clichés rather than breaking new ground, resulting in a film that is more forgettable than engaging.

"Like a Boss" brings together comedic talents like Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, and Salma Hayek under the direction of Miguel Arteta, yet fails to capitalize on their abilities. The film's script is poorly written and the chemistry between the leads falls flat, with humor that misses more often than it hits. Clocking in at 84 minutes, the movie struggles to maintain interest and suffers from a lack of originality and energy throughout, resulting in an overall disappointing experience.

On the technical front, Paramount's Blu-ray release of "Like a Boss" is commendable. The 1080p video quality is exceptional, displaying sharp detail and vibrant colors that enhance the viewing experience. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core audio track is well-mixed, providing clear dialogue and immersive soundscapes that complement the film, despite its shortcomings. However, the Blu-ray extras are sparse, offering little additional content for fans or casual viewers alike.

In conclusion, while "Like a Boss" offers a technically strong Blu-ray presentation, the film itself does not live up to expectations. Despite a talented cast and solid production values, the lackluster script and weak comedic elements overshadow the movie's few redeeming qualities. For those seeking a high-quality Blu-ray, this release might be worth considering, but from a content perspective, it is better to skip this one.