All the talent in the world means nothing if the material is average at very best.

That is the case with the new comedy “Like a Boss.” Despite a very talented cast – including leads Rose Byrne and Tiffany Haddish – and a director with a solid track record in the comedy genre, “Boss” can’t overcome a wobbly screenplay. It’s a script that feels like spare parts of broken ideas cobbled together to form a comedy that is thin when it comes to laughs.

Byrne and Haddish play Mel and Mia, respectively, lifelong friends who are living their best lives as owners of a small beauty company in Atlanta. The partnership appears to be perfect on the surface, but Mel reveals the friends are actually deep in debt with no real solution in sight.

Enter Claire Luna (Salma Hayek), a cosmetics mogul who offers to buy out Mel and Mia’s debt for a piece of their company. Mia is reluctant at first, but Mel convinces her to accept the offer. The friends quickly realize Claire has other ideas about their company – specifically a scheme to break up their partnership, and friendship, and take the business for herself.

Most of “Like a Boss” is Mel and Mia playing off each other, which is probably a smart idea. Byrne and Haddish prove to be a pretty solid comedy duo. Both actresses have shown in previous films that they will do anything for a laugh. That willingness to do anything leads to a comedic connection between the two leads that elevates the material a little and manages to at least create a laugh or two. I enjoyed the chemistry between Byrne and Haddish so much that I found myself wondering how good they could have been with better material.

Hayek doesn’t fair quite as well. Her character is too cartoonish and over-the-top to be taken seriously, even in a raunchy comedy like this. Hayek tries, maybe too hard, to make it work, but it never rises above the level of a sketch comedy idea gone bad.

Billy Porter, Jennifer Coolidge and Ari Graynor are some of the names that round out the cast – with Coolidge fairing the best among that trio.

It all comes back to the rather tepid screenplay. Director Miguel Arteta – whose resume includes “Youth in Revolt” and most recently “Beatriz at Dinner” – tries to give the script a bit of a lift by sometimes letting the two leads riff longer than the scene requires. It does provide a few more laughs, but it also confirms what the audience already knows – even at 83 minutes there really isn’t a lot going on here.

“Like a Boss” wants to be on the same level as a female comedy like “Bridesmaids,” when it’s actually just a bridesmaid to better comedies. This talented cast – and the audience – certainly deserves better.

Starring: Rose Byrne, Tiffany Haddish

Directed by: Miguel Arteta

Rating: R for language, crude sexual material, and drug use

Playing at: Regal Bowling Green Stadium 12, Regal Greenwood Mall Stadium 10, Highland Cinemas (Glasgow)

Grade: C