Superintelligence
Ratings: 2.5/5
Duration: 1 Hr 46 Mins
Language: English
Genre: Action, Comedy
Director: Ben Falcone
Writers: Steve Mallory
Producers: Richard Brener, Rob Cowan, Michael Disco, Ben Falcone, Steve Mallory, Melissa McCarthy
Music: Fil Eisler
Cinematography: Barry Peterson
Editing: Tia Nolan
Art Direction: Jeremy Woolsey
Release Date: 26 November 2020 (USA)
Released On: HBOmax
Star Cast: Melissa McCarthy, James Corden, Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry, Jean Smart, Jock McKissic, Karan Soni, Sarah Baker, Jwaundace Candece, Michael Beach, Usman Ally, Damon Jones, Jay Lay, Jenna Perusich, Carolyn Trahan, Sam Richardson, Joey Renfroe, Earl Will Eubank, James Tilley, Jeffrey Blanton, Jacob Keith Bristol, Kevin Petruski Jr., Ash Thapliyal, Christian Noël, Andrew Tinpo Lee, Douglas Knieriem, Shiquita James, Bardia Zadeh, Jay D. Kacho, Jakari Fraser, Erin Fasano, Joanna Daniel, Vishesh Chachra, Nicole L. Campbell, Austin Blackburn, Mac Alsfeld, Jose David Acevedo, Maxwell Highsmith, Jaydin McCollum, Tonya Lee, Andrew C. Matteson, Suzan Norton, Andre Parr, Greg Puckett, Patti Schellhaas, Todd Layne Thompson, Damon Vance, Lindsey Thaxton, Tina Witherby, Charles Green, Isaac Graff, Nigel Crocker, José Alfredo Fernandez, Dan Matteucci, Arad Ghodrati, Mike Benitez, Tommy Campbell, Linzy Clifton, Jeremy Connell, Marc Demeter, Charles-Joseph Fisher, Tahseen Ghauri, Mike D Harris, Donece Monk, Paul Pillsbury, David Lee Poe Jr., Ashley Geanett Priest, Wes Weems
Plot: Carol Peter (Melissa McCarthy) who has left a big, unspecified job at Yahoo, eight years ago to do some good in the world is shown trying to get people to adopt puppies at a Seattle street fair.
But when she is ready for a job, during an interview she gets mocked as "the most average person on Earth". An AI (Artificial Intelligence) that has become sentient and capable of wiping out humanity overhears and chooses to study Carol Peter.
Her earnest, yet unfulfilled life turns upside down, as it is now up to Carol to prove people are worth saving and make AI (that may or may not take over the world) decides whether to enslave, save or destroy humanity.
Review: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, the real-life married couple have established soft-hearted, middle-of-the-road comedies in their three previous films together, and with their fourth collaboration things scale back quite a bit.
Written by Steve Mallory, Superintelligence is a blend of romance, a best friend, a tinge of sci-fi, sentimentality, and a ticking clock on lethal danger for the hero - all of the common screen elements.
Well, it is a fine idea to applaud ‘average people’, but a film about the most average person on Earth should not be completely ordinary itself! That is, all those common screen elements should not have been handled with a sense of just walking through the paces.
Melissa McCarthy’s movies tend to focus on presenting her as a buffoon or clown. From Tammy to Spy, McCarthy tends to lay the comedy on broadly. So, when it comes to performances, Melissa McCarthy makes Carol likable and relatable, but even someone as talented as her can't make this earnest do-gooder interesting!
James Corden is the AI's voice and occasionally its physical image - the actor has playfully managed to become his own avatar.
While Brian Tyree Henry has the thankless role of Carol's best friend, and Bobby Cannavale played the nonsensical role of Carol's ex, George, the guy she regrets having broken up with a few years before.
The AI, suddenly a softie for romance, helps Carol try to rekindle their relationship in the short time humanity might have left.
There is room here for more comedy than the viewers end up getting. And since the script is so light on laughs, the viewers are forced to find something else to latch on to, such as Carol’s surprisingly low-key and likable romance with her ex, George. Their scenes are the most engaging ones, even if their dynamic isn’t sketched thoroughly enough for viewers to truly invest.
In short, the cast, full of extraordinary actors, could not save the film, even after they did what they could to redeem a lame script and style.
Visually, the film is as generic and muddled up as the plot, however, with some pretty but conventional overhead views of Seattle.
Overall, Superintelligence is just another regrettable waste of Melissa McCarthy’s talent. It is not that it is a bad movie, but it is a very safe one that may succeed in putting smiles on some faces during this unique holiday season!
