Review: Superintelligence

Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry in Superintelligence

Superintelligence brings Melissa McCarthy to the center of an action comedy about the most average, ordinary person on earth. It’s streaming on HBO Max.

I enjoyed Superintelligence. It was clever and funny and perfectly aimed at the modern world of tech tech tech. I liked seeing Melissa McCarthy as a romantic lead opposite Bobby Cannavale as George.

Carol Peters (McCarthy) lived in Seattle. She once worked in tech but quit to do things like get dogs adopted. Her best friend Dennis (Brian Tyree Henry) still worked at Microsoft.

One day a Super Intelligence (voiced mostly by James Corden) picked her out as the most average person on earth. It took her on as a study project to try to understand humans. It began talking to her out of her phone, her rice cooker, her TV, anything electronic.

Melissa McCarthy in Superintelligence

The Super Intelligence gave her three days to determine the fate of the world. It gave her millions of dollars, a new apartment, a self-driving car, a new wardrobe. And it asked her what she would do if she only had 3 days to live.

She answered she would like to make things right with George, her former boyfriend.

Then she went to see Dennis because she didn’t understand how any of this could be happening. Dennis got the whole world involved, including the U.S. government. The President of the United States was played by Jean Smart.

Bobby Cannavale and Melissa McCarthy in Superintelligence

Carol made the effort to contact George. She “accidentally” bumped into him in a supermarket. He was leaving in three days to work in Ireland for a year. They got involved again for those 3 days. As much as the Super Intelligence tried to control her and force her into certain behaviors, Carol only did what felt right where George was concerned.

There were lots of fun high tech bits. They reminded me of Person of Interest. There was physical comedy and some good one-liners. The message or theme worked around the idea that artificial intelligence will never understand or be able to replicate human behavior.

Superintelligence was directed by Ben Falcone, who also had a part as a federal agent. It cracked me up a bit when the “love scene” was photographed and viewed from across the street by Falcone, who is Melissa McCarthy’s husband. Guess they didn’t need an intimacy coordinator for that scene.

The film worked for me as a comedy with some original and inventive bits. It was light and quick and perfect for the night when you need something that will make you smile.

The poster for Superintelligence

Have a look at the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bRe8sEcOvQ

Have you seen this one yet? Did you enjoy it?

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