Ben Falcone
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Connections, in both directions
“Her” was cute and all, but the combined torpor of last year’s “Jexi” and Melissa McCarthy’s equally grim new “Superintelligence” is enough to retcon Spike Jonze’s bittersweet cyber-romance into the Manhattan Project of Hollywood’s worst new sub-genre.
It’s obvious the filmmaker’s probably watched Spike Jonze’s “Her” followed by “Jexi” and thought it was possible to land somewhere in the middle.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Besides the previous McCarthy-Falcone blandster comedies, Superintelligence brings to mind Her with a barely remedial IQ.
In this way, Falcone’s Thunder Force shares more in common with the films of the Atomic Age like Them! (1954), It Came From Outer Space (1953), or, in a more recent example, The Vast of Night (2020), though the execution of the narrative has a flavor of action-comedies Blankman (1994) or The Meteor Man (1993).
The supporting characterizations are thin and nondescript, almost as if McCarthy and Falcone watched films like Neighbors , The House Bunny , Legally Blonde and the aforementioned Back to School and decided to see if they could create situations and characters that would purposefully blur the line between homage and plagiarism.
Union enjoyed a moment in “Bad Boys II” where she played the sister of Martin Lawrence’s detective and the love interest of his partner (played by Will Smith), but the real twist was that Union’s character was an undercover law enforcement agent herself.
It's tiresome and the primary reason why I've avoided all Adam Sandler films since "Click."
On her first day of classes she’s decked out in school spirit, bouncing around campus with Mom-like enthusiasm and naiveté; she reminded me of Will Ferrell’s first day in New York in Elf .
And with others it's a singular computer that makes quite the impression on viewers, be that Proteus IV in the barely seen "Demon Seed" (which was way ahead of its time warning about home automation) or the game playing WOPR in "Warm Games."
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Directed by Adam McKay
influenced The Boss (2016)
Visuals
There are a few good bits of slapstick in "The Boss," including an early teeth-whitening scene where McCarthy speaks with her lips drawn back to expose her gums, and a clash of rival girl gangs that rips off the battle of the news teams in " Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy ."
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Directed by Adam McKay
influenced The Boss (2016)
Characters
“ Anchorman ” and “ Talladega Nights ” both feature pompous shells of a human being who are humbled on a grand scale, much like Melissa McCarthy’s character here, but that is where the similarities end.
There was something far more basic about her approach in this James McTeigue (“V for Vendetta”) thriller.
Call it a lowbrow answer to “The Lobster” (2015) or McCarthy practicing for her role as Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” but you could pluck this scene out of the movie and present it as a brilliant “SNL” sketch.
Thor: Ragnarok and Ant-Man and the Wasp are so caught up in silly tangents—whether it’s Jeff Goldblum basically playing himself as a space dictator or Michael Peña arguing over the veracity of truth serum—that it’s easy to forget its heroes have to save the day.
Ferrell hits his peaks with director Adam McKay (“Anchorman,” “Step Brothers,” etc.).
The amount of Old Style beer Lydia drinks in this movie reaches a level of gratuitous product placement that's second only to Brad Pitt drinking Pepsi for several seconds in "World War Z."
The MCU didn’t really find its signature sauce until the now-disgraced Joss Whedon brought his sensibilities to The Avengers , a team-up movie predicated on snappy one-liners and its heroes silently bonding over shawarma.
But in actuality this is the same rig that was used to shoot “The Revenant” as well as the Melissa McCarthy comedy “The Boss.”
As for Sarandon’s low comedy turn here, it’s nearly as embarrassing as watching Al Pacino in the Adam Sandler disaster “Jack And Jill.”
The list of dough-motivated duds such as Harlem Nights (1989), Boomerang (1992), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002), Norbit (2007) and Meet Dave (2008) is as long as it is disheartening.
And as much as I've loved watching Sandra Bullock falling down over the years in romantic comedies like "Miss Congeniality" and "The Proposal," it's been such a treat to see her push into different terrain — from her Oscar-winning insistent mother in "The Blind Side" to her space engineer in "Gravity."
While Snatched is (thankfully) more tolerable than the recent summer stinkers Tammy (Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon) and Hot Pursuit (Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara), it never really gets out of neutral.
Like Melissa McCarthy, looking for mainstream middlebrow amusement with “Tammy,” Schumer has chosen a formula “buddy” comedy with one of “The Banger Sisters” as her mom and co-star.