Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Superintelligence’ on HBO Max, A Melissa McCarthy Vehicle That Squanders a Decent Pseudo-Sci-Fi Concept

HBO Max original movie Superintelligence is the fourth comedy collaboration between funnywoman Melissa McCarthy and her director husband Ben Falcone. Previously, they churned out middling box-office performers Tammy, The Boss and Life of the Party, which all qualify for Movies We Forgot Existed status, so here’s hoping a high-concept effort like Superintelligence shakes off that unfortunate stigma.

SUPERINTELLIGENCE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: So the singularity has happened, and localized itself on Carol Peters (McCarthy). All together now: I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS! The artificially intelligent entity, which manifests itself as the voice and occasional visage of James Corden, chose Carol apparently because she’s an average human being, and it needs to evaluate one of those to determine humanity’s fate: Destruction, enslavement or business as usual. Carol quit a comfortable corporate job to pursue a more humanitarian career, so I dunno if she qualifies as “average,” but at least the fate of Everything is in the hands of someone who wants to see adorable puppies find good homes and sweetheart crap like that.

The AI lets its presence be known via phones and speakers and TVs and smart humidors and turnip twaddlers and other miscellaneous electronic junk in our homes. So, yes, it’s everywhere, constantly nagging Carol about flossing properly and stuff. It tests her psychological fortitude by giving her $10 million, a slick Tesla and a sweeeeeet penthouse. But for reasons I forget or possibly didn’t give a shit enough to notice, Cordenbot makes the fate of humanity hinge on whether or not Carol wins back her ex, George (Bobby Cannavale), who she broke up with to pursue her humanitarian higher calling. It’s her biggest regret.

Meanwhile (there’s always a meanwhile, isn’t there?), Carol lives in Seattle so she visits her friend Dennis (Brian Tyree Henry) on the MICROSOFT campus and tells him about the singularity, then gets lost on the MICROSOFT campus, and eventually makes it off the MICROSOFT campus, but amazingly, she doesn’t buy any MICROSOFT products, although the movie probably would appreciate it if you did. Dennis contacts the government, which is led by a president who looks a lot like Hillary Clinton (Jean Smart), possibly because this movie is a comedy and not a tragedy. Anyway, the government works to defeat the potentially malicious AI while it helps Carol stage a meet-cute and a date with George. And then everybody dies, or maybe they don’t. NO SPOILAGE!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Besides the previous McCarthy-Falcone blandster comedies, Superintelligence brings to mind Her with a barely remedial IQ. It also sometimes reminds me of that spy movie McCarthy was in. What was it called? Oh, right — Spy. Very creative!

Performance Worth Watching: For the life of me, I can’t figure out why so many comedies produced by McCarthy fail to make the most of her distinctive earnestly sweet-uproariously funny dynamic.

Memorable Dialogue: “Is this Carpool Karaoke? Am I supposed to sing something? Oh — I got it, I got it. (Singing) Iiiiiiiiiit’s been one week since you looked at me…” — Carol invokes the ’90s nostalgia gods and earworms the living hell out of us

Sex and Skin: Just some comical clothed fumblings.

Our Take: The pending end of the world has so rarely felt like a non-event. Superintelligence is a high-concept story that feels remarkably low-stakes. It makes the absolute least of its core idea. It has the potential to be absurd, over-the-top or even profound, but saddles itself with scenes of McCarthy and Cannavale being lightly, benignly charming together, which might be welcome if it wasn’t so very much beside the point.

So this attempt at melding sci-fi brainfodder with mainstream comedy sensibilities is a non-starter, alternating Wargames references with Barenaked Ladies nostalgia. It offers little in the way of memorable characters, the dialogue is stunningly bland and its core emotional story never really encourages us to give a rip. Any hope that this might be a wild-ass endtimes tear through the city a la Miracle Mile goes kablooey as soon as the movie forces us to endure a hacky-wacky McCarthy fashion-makeover montage. I sigh emphatically. The weight of the world is on Carol’s shoulders, and we’re inspired to do little more than shrug.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Superintelligence takes a decent concept and renders it mushy and toothless. We might forgive it if it made us laugh more, but alas.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Superintelligence on HBO Max