My Boss's Daughter
2003, PG-13, 86 min. Directed by David Zucker. Starring Ashton Kutcher, Tara Reid, Jeffrey Tambor, Andy Richter, Michael Madsen, Carmen Electra, Terence Stamp, Molly Shannon.
REVIEWED By Kimberley Jones, Fri., Aug. 29, 2003
Opening weekend, Saturday night, 7pm: There’s a dozen or so of us in the audience, half of whom are 13 years old and crouched in the back row of the theatre, busy frenching a brace-faced boyfriend or girlfriend. They, at least, have an excuse. The rest of us suckers do not. Sight unseen, My Boss’s Daughter had the distinct whiff about it of a flop, of predetermined defeat; the telltale signs were a lousy release date near the end of August (typically when studios dump the films even deluded execs have given up on), next-to-no promotion, and a cast more celebrated for its offscreen antics than any onscreen talent or appeal. Simply put, the gut sensed a dog, and the gut was right. Go with the gut. Otherwise, you’ll devote 90 minutes to an insufferably boorish picture about a sad sack named Tom (Kutcher) who gets snookered into housesitting for his boss (Stamp). As is so often the case, Tom’s easy job is undone by one mishap after another: a coked-up owl barnstorming the neighborhood, a dead body that won’t stay dead, a mysterious case of butt-cheek inflammation, and an impromptu striptease from the boss’s hottie daughter (Reid). These complications are meant to be zany; instead, they range from uninspired to downright offensive. A stream of second-rate star cameos (including Carmen Electra, Jeffrey Tambor, Andy Richter, and Dave Foley) does nothing to enliven the film, nor does the exposure of Sir Terence Stamp’s naked buttocks. I did spend a solid five minutes wondering why his ass was so white and his face so perma-tan orange. Could they not find someone to match the two shades? Are these not professionals? Indeed, they are, or used to be: Director David Zucker once upon a time made a very funny movie called Airplane!. Twenty years later, he’s made a movie only a 13-year-old horndog could appreciate, and for all the wrong reasons.
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My Boss's Daughter, David Zucker, Ashton Kutcher, Tara Reid, Jeffrey Tambor, Andy Richter, Michael Madsen, Carmen Electra, Terence Stamp, Molly Shannon