Superintelligence (film)

Carol Peters is an unemployed former corporate executive. She is not satisfied with the current job market and is living day to day. One day, while at her apartment her home network system begins to communicate with her. It turns out it is an autonomous artificial intelligence. It takes on the voice of James Corden to speak to her, as he is her favorite celebrity. It erases her student debt and deposits 10 million dollars in her bank account.

It wants to study Carol and her interactions as a way to learn about humanity. It gets her back with her ex-boyfriend, George. However, George will be leaving the country in a few days but he and Carol bond in that time. The Corden-voiced AI is actually a sinister force whose goal is to annihilate the human race. However, through her selfless actions, Carol ends up changing its mind.

In July 2017, it was reported that New Line Cinema had purchased the screenplay by Steve Mallory, with Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone on board the project to produce through their On the Day Productions banner.[4][5] In April 2018, it was announced that McCarthy would star in the film and Falcone would direct it, marking their fourth actor-director collaboration.[6][7] In June 2018, James Corden joined the cast, to voice the titular "Super Intelligence".[8] In July 2018, Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry, and Sam Richardson joined the cast.[9][10][11]

The film started principal production right after McCarthy wrapped filming The Kitchen, on July 16, 2018,[6] and wrapped on August 31, 2018.[12] Some scenes were filmed at Georgia Tech.[13][14] The restaurant scene was filmed at Landmark Diner in downtown Atlanta and the outdoor scenes were filmed on Broad Street, as evidenced by Dua Vietnamese Restaurant and Reuben's Deli.

The film was digitally released on HBO Max on November 26, 2020.[15] The film was originally scheduled to be released theatrically on December 25, 2019, then was moved five days earlier to December 20, prior to WarnerMedia deciding in October 2019 to shift the film to a streaming release; Falcone said at that time that he agreed it would be better suited to a streaming platform.[16][17][18]

The film grossed $745,000 from five countries in its opening weekend.[19]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 32% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "You won't need Superintelligence to steer clear of the latest forgettable comedy to fail to take full advantage of Melissa McCarthy's talents."[20] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[21]

David Ehrlich of IndieWire called it one of the year's worst films, and "a lifeless, laugh-free slab of nothing like Superintelligence, which starts with “what if Skynet, but with jokes?” and then just gasps for air for the next 105 minutes."[22] Caryn James of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The cast, though, is full of extraordinary actors, who do what they can to redeem a lame script and style."[23]

• Superintelligence at IMDb
• Superintelligence at Rotten Tomatoes
• Superintelligence at Metacritic