For all its slightness, pic is helmer's least pretentious and most sheerly enjoyable for years.
The Boss of It All(Direktøren for det hele)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Denmark, Sweden, France · 2006
1h 35m
Director Lars von Trier
Starring Jens Albinus, Peter Gantzler, Benedikt Erlingsson, Henrik Prip
Genre Comedy, Experimental
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Ravn, the owner of a Danish tech firm, dodges all responsibility for his touchier business decisions by inventing an imaginary boss. But when Ravn needs to sell his company, he is forced to hire failed actor Kristoffer to impersonate the absentee manager, catapulting a series of absurd comic encounters.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
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.
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
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.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Cynical, misanthropic and embittered.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
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.
The Boss Of It All, though clever as a piece of genre deconstruction, isn't terribly funny.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
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.
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.
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.
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