Cringe-worthy 'Like a Boss' isn't half as funny as the people in it

There’s a vast gulf between a funny movie and a movie with a lot of funny people in it, and within that gulf rests “Like a Boss,” whose raunchy humor misses more than it hits.

Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne star as Mia and Mel, women who have been friends since middle school, through high school and college, and launching their cosmetics line as a garage start-up. They do good business online, with a “one-night stand” mini make-up kit as their top-selling item. Their brick-and-mortar store, where Mia has the color ideas and Mel keeps the books, is hemorrhaging money — though it doesn’t keep the partners from leaving their employees, awkward Syd (Jennifer Coolidge) and flamboyant Barret (Billy Porter, stealing every scene), alone while they party with their wealthy, married-with-kids gal pals (Jessica St. Clair, Ari Graynor and Natasha Rothwell).

One day, in walks what could be the answer to Mia & Mel’s financial woes: Beauty mogul Claire Luna (Salma Hayek), a cosmetics CEO who wants to invest in the partners’ operation, in exchange for 49% interest in the business. The hitch is that if Mia and Mel ever break up, Claire gets controlling interest in the company. Mel, always eager to please, talks the more temperamental Mia into signing — but soon Claire is picking at the cracks in the partners’ relationship.

There’s certainly room in this premise — credited to two male screenwriters, Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly (sharing story credit with Danelle Sanchez-Witzel) — and director Miguel Arteta (“Beatriz at Dinner”) gathers together plenty of funny people to fill the space. But there’s not enough jokes baked into the script for the stars to latch onto, and the hope of spontaneous on-set hilarity doesn’t pay off as much as you’d like. There are occasional flashes of humor in “Like a Boss,” but the stars are in the position of trying to pretty up a bad situation without enough foundation.

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‘Like a Boss’

★★

Opens Friday, January 10, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for language, crude sexual material, and drug use..Running time: 83 minutes.