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Melissa McCarthy's comic talents go largely to waste in "The Boss," in which she and her husband, director Ben Falcone, try to fill 90 minutes with a one-note character that would be worth 5 minutes on "Saturday Night Live."

That character is Michelle Darnell, a hard-charging, ball-busting CEO who gets busted for insider trading. With her assets frozen and her rival/ex-lover Renault (Peter Dinklage) now running her companies, Michelle finds refuge with her long-suffering former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell), a single mom with a 10-year-old daughter, Rachel (Ella Anderson). It's Rachel's Dandelion troop that inspires Michelle's comeback plan: hiring girls to sell a line of brownies, based on Claire's recipe.

The script — written by McCarthy, Falcone and Steve Mallory — is a barebones frame on which Falcone hangs opportunities for McCarthy to riff and improvise, which produces a few gut-busting moments but not enough. The rest, such as Claire's by-the-numbers romance with a co-worker (Tyler Labine), is filler that kills time but doesn't generate many laughs.

'The Boss'

Opens Friday, April 8, at theaters everywhere; rated R for sexual content, language and brief drug use; 99 minutes.