"Superintelligence" not memorable but an amusing-enough vehicle for Melissa McCarthy

Superintelligence (2020)

“Superintelligence” now makes for the fourth screen collaboration between Melissa McCarthy and director husband Ben Falcone (2018’s “Life of the Party”). Billed as an “apocalyptic love story,” this wish-fulfillment sci-fi comedy isn’t as howlingly funny as some of McCarthy’s other star vehicles, but it is blessedly just amusing enough and warmly felt. As a comedy, mild laughs and virtually consistent smiles are the highest compliments the movie earns, and “Superintelligence” is the closest McCarthy has ever gotten to getting her own romantic comedy. Even if the material is never as inspired as her delivery, McCarthy is the winning common denominator in what makes it a notch above super-average.

Having left her corporate job at Yahoo to work in philanthropy for non-profit groups—and breaking off her committed relationship—Carol Peters (Melissa McCarthy) is an average do-gooder who becomes the guinea pig for an all-knowing, all-seeing artificial intelligence. It soothes her nerves by speaking in the voice of late-night TV host James Corden of whom she is a huge fan, but the potentially sentient voice plans to either save, enslave, or destroy mankind. When “James Corden” asks Carol what she would do if the world was about to end in three days, she answers making things right with her ex, college professor George (Bobby Cannavale), before he leaves to teach in Ireland for a year. In doing so, the superintelligence—after paying off her student loans, depositing $10 million into her bank account, and then giving Carol a makeover, a fully furnished penthouse, and a self-driving Tesla—isn't so evil and learns that people aren’t so bad after all and might be worth saving. 

Written by Steve Mallory (2016’s “The Boss”), “Superintelligence” puts the urgency of humanity's fate on hold for Carol to rekindle her spark with “the one that got away.” It's a wildly safe direction for such a potentially nihilistic premise, but it's a choice and director Ben Falcone sticks to it. As if we needed further proof, Melissa McCarthy can slide between humor and pathos with so much ease that the switch is never jarring. The joke might be that Carol is just an unremarkable single woman, and yet Carol is a more-relatable, less-brassy character closer to the real Melissa McCarthy, who seems to be anything but unremarkable. A national treasure at this point, McCarthy brings her all to the lead role, as she always does, and can somehow make a silly physical gag involving a job interview on a beanbag chair and then a couture-clothing montage much funnier than they both sound. Her reaction to not being able to find the exit in the Microsoft headquarters is even priceless. McCarthy and a disembodied James Corden share an energetic banter, and she and Bobby Cannavale, as George, even have a nice, natural way with each other.

There is always a place for a comedy, like “Superintelligence,” that goes down easy in the moment without being entirely memorable. The supporting cast is a deep bench of comedians who make a few lines land but don't really receive anything of interest to do, including Jessica St. Clair and Karan Soni, as a dating-site start-up team; Sam Richardson and Falcone, himself, as a pair of NSA agents who try kidnapping Carol a couple times; Brian Tyree Henry, as Carol’s friend, Microsoft AI expert Dennis; and Jean Smart, as Madam President. A soundtrack with songs by The Chordettes, Connie Franchise, and Peggy Lee gives the film an old-fashioned feel, and Octavia Spencer's voice making a cameo is good for a chuckle, while a “War Games” reference and a running joke with Carol singing Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week” might be a few decades too late. “Superintelligence” is one of those likable, pure-hearted movies where love conquers all, and right about now, who could say “no” to that?

Grade: B -

Warner Bros. is releasing “Superintelligence” (105 min.) to HBO Max on November 26, 2020.