My Boss’s Daughter Parent Guide

After bumping around the release date schedule for nearly a year, My Boss’s Daughter is finally seeing the light of a projector. In it, Ashton Kutcher stars as a lowly book researcher in a large publishing company who works for an ill-tempered boss who runs the office with sharp words and a surly scowl.

However, Tom (Kutcher) is willing to overlook Jack Taylor’s (Terrence Stamp) personal shortcomings because he has his sights set on something more than his present low paying position. The young employee wants a shot at the opening in the company’s creative department and a date with the boss’s daughter, Lisa (Tara Reid).

Tom thinks he has a chance at the second goal when Lisa invites him over to her home. Instead he arrives to discover that her only intentions were to find a house sitter for the cantankerous president who is leaving on a trip.

Ushering Tom into the immaculate residence, Jack reels off more detailed instructions than a first time parent—mostly focused on the medical and mental care of a glum owl named O.J. Ending his lengthy lecture with a death threat, the boss finally leaves the young man on his own.

But the business chief has barely closed the front door when the trouble starts. Unable to put his foot down, the mild-mannered employee soon has a houseful of unwanted guests, none of whom have much concern for the strange pet or costly furnishings Tom tries to protect.

There is also little concern for family viewers when it comes to the content list. Needlessly repeated profanities and crude jokes along with sexual dialogue and antics are plentiful. Equipped with oversized bladders, several male characters mark their territory like overeager dogs and two others expose their posteriors. While illegal drug trafficking is portrayed, the bigger worry for parents may be an adult character that experimentally ingests household cleaner, furniture polish and dirt.

Winning the girl is Tom’s first objective in this story but learning to say no turns out to be a bigger issue in this movie penned by the same screenwriter as Anger Management. Like the Adam Sandler film about suppressed rage, this script also includes irreverent jabs at religious, racial and sexual groups, as well as the handicapped.

After an hour of watching this barrage of characters traipse in and out the door, it’s hard to feel much connection with any of them, particularly the guy who tries to juggle house sitting with charming the boss’s daughter.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Kerry Bennett is interested in media from both a journalist and parent perspective. Along with authoring articles for several family-oriented publications, she has written for Parent Previews for over 15 years. As a parent herself, she believes parents play a powerful role in teaching media literacy in their homes.