The Boss of It All

2006

1h 38m

Comedy

List

74%

66 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

For years, company director Ravn (Peter Gantzler) leads his staff to believe that the head of the firm is an absentee director named Svend. Now Ravn wants to sell out to Finnur (Fridrik Thór Fridriksson), but Finnur will deal only with Svend. Ravn hires Kristoffer (Jens Albinus), an actor, to portray Svend so the deal can go through, but complications arise when Kristoffer must extend the performance.

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Critics Consensus

Director Lars von Trier ditches the pretensions but keeps his misanthropy in The Boss of it All, a surprisingly sharp and witty comedy about office life gone haywire.

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StephenPaul C

LOL, the funniest 01 hour: and 38 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/26/23

Full Review

paris p

One of my favourite von Trier movies. Have seen it multiple times and will always return to the hilarious real office culture imitating scenes and the acting of Albinus and Gantzler, among others.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/05/23

Full Review

dave s

It seems odd, based on his oeuvre of controversial films, to watch a comedy directed by Lars vonTrier but, strangely enough, The Boss of It All works. The owner of an IT company fabricates a president of the organization in order to shift blame when he has to make difficult decisions. As a result, when it comes time to sell the company, he hires an actor to portray the fictitious president in order to avoid the wrath of the employees. The concept is clearly absurd, but the humor, dry as a bone, works throughout the film as the actor uncovers a long thread of deceit and dishonesty. The movie is hindered by some truly bizarre editing choices and some less than traditional framing of shots, but von Trier clearly has an ear for comedy and even takes a poke at himself with a reference to his Dogme 95 school of filmmaking.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Smart. A different, more intelligent approach to an office comedy. Complex in the way it builds upon and unravels its own premise.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/11/18

Full Review

Audience Member

Uma comédia pautada no absurdo, mas que ancora suas situações em neuroses realistas nos colegas de uma empresa. No entanto, tais neuroses nunca seriam expostas por pessoas reais, e a beleza de "O Grande Chefe" é justamente deixar fluir o comportamento humano até suas últimas consequências, enquanto ironicamente o comportamento de um ator medíocre é analisado sob a ótica da incompetência. - cinetenisverde.com.br

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A funny office comedy with strange characters with weird personalities. Maybe a common office history if you analize the situation

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

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Lars von Trier

Director

Jens Albinus

Kristoffer

Peter Gantzler

Ravn

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson

Finnur

Benedikt Erlingsson

Interpreter

Iben Hjejle

Lise

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

Calculatedly self-promoting in his self-effacing trickery, von Trier again makes a work of an audacity—this time, not as tragedy but as farce—that belongs more to advertising than to cinema.

Apr 18, 2022

Full Review

Ben Kenigsberg

Time Out

Rated: 4/5

Nov 18, 2011

Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out

Rated: 3/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)

A fresh, nimble-footed departure from one of the world's greatest living directors.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 6, 2019

Full Review

Michael Joshua Rowin

Stop Smiling

If The Boss of It All is forgettable, it's not for its airiness, but for its failed artiness, and for von Trier's failure to be true to his art.

Aug 24, 2017

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

An appealing low-budget quirky spoof on corporations.

Rated: B

Aug 27, 2009

Full Review

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Synopsis

For years, company director Ravn (Peter Gantzler) leads his staff to believe that the head of the firm is an absentee director named Svend. Now Ravn wants to sell out to Finnur (Fridrik Thór Fridriksson), but Finnur will deal only with Svend. Ravn hires Kristoffer (Jens Albinus), an actor, to portray Svend so the deal can go through, but complications arise when Kristoffer must extend the performance.

Director: Lars von Trier
Producer: Lene Børglum, Peter Aalbæk Jensen
Screenwriter: Lars von Trier
Production Co: Zentropa Entertainments, Lucky Red, Memfis Film & Television [se]
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: Danish
Rerelease Date (Theaters): May 23, 2007
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 19, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.3K
Runtime: 1h 38m