The Netflix rollercoaster ride of new number ones continues, with a brand new comedy movie arrival topping its film chart in the UK: Superintelligence. But, given its 31% Rotten Tomatoes score, this one sounds like a Melissa McCarthy clanger! Maybe the most superintelligent thing to do is to skip it entirely?
Although, as I've previously written, a harsh score - such as the 55% for the Netflix Original Who Is Erin Carter? - isn't always fair and doesn't represent everyone's views, right? I'm strangely fond of movies that are so bad that they're good (well, almost good) - and, uh, I'm probably going to be one of those people watching McCarthy's 2020-released flop with a stupid grin on my face.
As you can see in the trailer above, Superintelligence is about a super-intelligent AI, played by James Cordon, who has selected 'the most average person in the world' - Carol Peters, played by Melissa McCartney - to monitor for a few days to decide whether humanity is worthy of existence - or, otherwise, just blow the planet up instead.
Not exactly your typical comedy premise, but you can see where it's headed from the off. The cast list is a bit surprising to me, too, especially to see Bobby Cannavale, who plays George, Carol's love interest, feature in such a comedy movie role. Love him in Boardwalk Empire, though, in which I feel he found his calling.
Some well-renowned critics have given Superintelligence seething reviews with particularly low scores. Roger Ebert scored it a mere half-star in his prominent review. The Guardian's Benjamin Lee was a little more generous, in his two-star review.
If it does turn out to be that bad then, well, now that Netflix is cracking down on password sharing and has just scrapped its basic plan, I could always unsubscribe for the end-of-summer period – especially as Disney+ has a limited £1.99-per-month sign-up plan. It's not as though Superintelligence can make its way onto Netflix's ongoing cancellations, though, as it's not made by the streaming company.
