Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Plot: When an all-powerful Superintelligence chooses to study average Carol Peters, the fate of the world hangs in the balance. As the AI decides to enslave, save, or destroy humanity, it’s up to Carol to prove that people are worth saving.
Review: Let’s get this out of the way—I’m gonna be calling Superintelligence “SI” going forward, because when your own name is already 20 letters long and you’ve had to write/type it for years, you don’t need the extra exercise.
SI is what I like to call a one and done movie. You’ll watch it (maybe), you’ll probably chuckle a few times and maybe even laugh out loud once or twice, and then you’ll forget you ever saw it.
It feels and plays out like a story from the 90s or even early 2000s. Melissa McCarthy plays a down-on-her-luck, but sweeter-than-pie average lady who for no other reason than “movie logic” attracts the attention of an AI who decides he wants to study her for three days to see if humanity is worth saving, enslaving or destroying.
With a plot like this one, you might’ve expected a lot of shenanigans to ensue, but for whatever reason they play this one pretty by the numbers.
McCarthy (Bridesmaids/Ghostbusters) is surprisingly very subdued in this role. She pulls out a few improv jokes here and there (one of which actually made me laugh), but for the most part, she doesn’t have that crazy energy I would usually see from her in this type of role. The AI is voiced mainly by James Corden (Peter Rabbit, The Late Late Show with James Corden) who admittedly has a great voice and does a fun job of bringing the SI to life.
Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta/Widows) plays Carol’s best friend but he doesn’t have that much to do here and sadly is wasted. This man has talent in spades and I would’ve loved to have seen more of him. Bobby Carnavale (Ant-Man), who is also no stranger to comedy, plays her ex-boyfriend and love interest George, and his chemistry with Melissa is actually quite good here. I bought into the relationship dynamic and could actually see them as a real life couple.
Sadly that’s where the positives end folks. There were moments that made me smile, but SI is at best an average comedy with a plot that feels not just dated, but also quite unmemorable. It’s not an awful movie; it just felt like it came out of nowhere, did its thing, and disappeared into the ether, making no real impact on you the viewer. Ironically, this is one superintelligence (okay, just this once) that isn’t as smart or super as it could’ve been.
Sommer’s Score: 5 out of 10
Want more Superintelligence? You can check out my video review here:
For my review of the comedy Chick Fight you can click here.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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