Direktøren for det hele (Lars Von Trier, 2006)

With The Boss of it All, Von Trier tries his hand at making a comedy and almost spoils the fun by being so antsily self-conscious about it that he has to butt in several times to tell us not to take it seriously. There was just no need: the admittedly overused notion of a klutz of an actor hired by a cowardly IT company boss to play the part of the CEO in takeover talks with a hilariously truculent Icelander is still jolly enough to sustain interest, even with Von Trier doing his best to sabotage the flow with frenetic jump-cutting throughout, so clearly lacking confidence in how to judge comic timing. Contentwise, it only has the potential to be a slight addition to the idiosyncratic director's oeuvre, but would be a welcome diversion from his usual portentous melancholy and misanthropy nonetheless, if only its maker had any faith in letting it breathe.

5/10