In The Boss, a titan of industry is sent to jail for insider trading and, upon release, discovers not all her peers are keen on welcoming her back. The Melissa McCarthy comedy inspires this week’s 24 Frames gallery, the best and worst bosses from movie history.
Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:
He may be moody and crazy, but there’s a boss who’s willing to run into collapsing buildings to save some employees.
Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole) in Office Space:
Umm, yeah…you know where this is going…
Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) in Spotlight:
The movie initially paints him as a corporate budget slasher but Baron paves the way for his Boston Globe team to expose sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) in Horrible Bosses:
Geez, it’s right in the title.
Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:
Non-discriminatory hiring practices and atomizes obnoxious disruptive children or drowns them in chocolate. With these policies, Wonka should open some movie theaters.
The Jurassic series:
Is there something about running a futuristic theme park of resurrected dinosaurs that attracts feckless bosses?
Mr. Cheezle (Kevin Nealon) in Grandma’s Boy:
Knows where to find the best weed AND Super Mario Maker levels.
Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore) in Disclosure:
A computer firm is thrown into disarray when incoming boss Moore comes onto old flame/new employee Michael Douglas and then frames him for sexual harassment.
Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in Wall Street:
But as a boss, Douglas raised hell as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. Maybe it’s you, Mike; you’re toxic to the office workplace.
Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine) in The Muppet Christmas Carol: The OG horrible boss.
John Milton (Al Pacino) in The Devil’s Advocate:
Keanu Reeves starts working at a law firm where his boss has more than just power of attorney.
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in The Devil Wears Prada:
A prickly and demanding boss modeled after real fashionista Anna Wintour.
M in the James Bond series:
Someone’s gotta approve the expense reports for licenses to kill.
Blake (Alec Baldwin) in Glengarry Glen Ross:
Famously threatening his crew that only the two top real estate sellers will have a job at the end of the week.
Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) in The Intern:
Taking an unretired Robert De Niro under her wing.
Jordan Belfort (Leonardo Dicaprio) in The Wolf of Wall Street:
Happy hour is mandatory and awesome.
Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) in The Proposal:
Overbearing editor asks her assistant to marry her to avoid deportation, which is A LOT of unpaid overtime.
Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) in All the President’s Men:
A predecessor to Marty Baron from Spotlight, Bradlee goaded his reporters into delivering a devastating expose on President Nixon.
Sandra (Ann Dowd) in Compliance:
In a prank gone sexual, this fast food boss humiliates her employee at the behest of a mysterious voice on the phone.
MacMillan (Robert Loggia) in Big:
The best mentor a kid trapped in a 30-year old man’s body improbably working for a toy store could ask for.
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) in Schindler’s List:
A factory owner slowly bankrupts himself to save 600 Jewish workers from extermination during World War II.
Walter Burns (Cary Grant) in His Girl Friday:
This editor manipulates his employee (and ex-wife) into ditching her boring fiancee. But it’s a screwball comedy and in black and white, so it’s all good.
Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) in Tropic Thunder:
On the one hand, he’s willing to let his movie stars die somewhere in jungle Asia. On the other, he knows never to negotiate with terrorists.
J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) from the Spider-Man series:
Ever find in life that you’re a costumed mutoid spider guy crimefighter and your boss just doesn’t have your back?
