Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 17
  2. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. 91
    The first of von Trier's efforts to be certifiably farcical.
  2. Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    90
    Colors and angles and sound levels don't match from one cut to the next. The movie is ugly as sin to look at. But it's all intentional on the part of von Trier.
  3. Bone-dry but completely assured, both in its visual strategy and its wry deconstruction of the workplace comedy genre.
  4. Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    88
    The result is a kind of very faux documentary style, which, along with the subject matter, has suggested to some the influence of the BBC television series "The Office." Von Trier says he's never seen an episode, and I believe him.
  5. With echoes of "Dave," in which Kevin Kline takes over for the comatose U.S. President he resembles, Kristoffer begins to feel the power given to him and to make his own decisions, leading to some hilarious situations and an unpredictable ending.
  6. 75
    Funny is not a word often used to describe von Trier's output, but "Boss" definitely is that, thanks to a breezy script and a bright cast.
  7. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    The Boss of It All finds the common ground between business and acting -- panicky improvisation -- and wonders whether applause or an executive comp package is the greater reward.
  8. Von Trier's proficiency at the quicksilver business of comedy comes as a surprise, given the grinding seriousness of earlier films.
  9. No one is likely to rank "Boss" on the same level as his more somber and ambitious efforts, but Von Trier admirers will be pleased to discover that, even while working in a far less consequential mode than usual, the ever-uninhibited filmmaker's distinctive flair is in full force.
  10. Like all of Mr. von Trier's films, The Boss of It All is a cold, misanthropic work that places no faith in institutions and in humanity itself. But it's also very funny.
  11. Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    70
    For all its slightness, pic is helmer's least pretentious and most sheerly enjoyable for years.
  12. There's a comment in here somewhere about leadership and authorship, and it's not that we're laughing too hard to fully comprehend it. In von Trier's world, the laugh is often ON the audience, not WITH the audience.
  13. This satire of empty-suit capitalism has scalding moments, but most of it suggests Being There meets The Office gibberized into theater of the absurd.
  14. 67
    The Boss Of It All, though clever as a piece of genre deconstruction, isn't terribly funny.
  15. 63
    Cynical, misanthropic and embittered.
  16. It's a modest and mildly funny effort, with good scenes and touches of incisive satire, but it's not quite funny enough, and it's undermined by its camera technique.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. DavidR.
    2
    Is Von Trier even trying anymore? Glad to see people have stopped paying attention to his films and are realizing The Idiots was a fluke. Keep Dogme95 back in 1995 when Von Trier was a goat herder and a real filmmaker like Michael Mann was finishing his masterpiece Heat. Full Review »