Where I Watched It: Peacock

English Audio Description?: Yes

Alas, we have missed out on Melissa McCarthy dancing and singing to Genie In A bottle. That time has passed. She has now already played a genie, and Richard Curtis, in his infinite wisdom, left that out. If you think that joke is bad, you haven’t seen Genie yet.

I would love to go to bat for McCarthy. I actually enjoyed Superintelligence. True story. I think she was good as Úrsula in The Little Mermaid (and I was surprised by that notion). Has she chosen some dismal projects recently? yes. And normally the conversation is on how her husband is always writing or directing these films, or that God awful Netflix series, and she’s missing out on real talent like Bridesmaids director Paul Feig.

She actually trusted that a script from the guy who brought everyone Love Actually might finally be the one. I feel so bad for her, because theoretically that makes sense. But, in other films where she’s seemed energetic and over committed to some of the worst material, even she seems like she’s doing someone a favor just by being here. It’s rare to see her phone it in, because she’ll do something where she has to do a ton of physical comedy, and maybe it’ll work out. Here, she’s just stuck in hell.

The film loosely revolves around a dad who is separated from his wife at the moment, and he ends up finding a genie. Three wishes need not apply. And, in a twist of fate, his wishes are largely selfless. He doesn’t just immediately free McCarthy like he grew up on Aladdin, but he does do things like swing by a park and make a wish that every kid gets what they wanted for Christmas, which is one of the better gags in the film.

Most of the time, McCarthy is stuck following around this random actor. Usually she has someone to bounce her energy off, but somehow this guy got the gig, and his previous credits don’t speak to a comedic lean in his talent. There are literally thousands of actors who could have had some banter with McCarthy. But I’m still not sure that would fix the script, or that some of the content here just doesn’t work. Chalk it up to a relatively new director, who even with a Richard Curtis script, can’t materialize magic from nothing.

McCarthy is in this place where I don’t care where she goes or what she does, whether it is comedy, drama, musical, or a TV series, but i just want it to be good. She’s such a talented actress, and this is one of her worst performances. The real kicker is, I think she knows it. It’s a little like watching Whoopi Goldberg try to do Theodore Rex. She knows a contractual obligation is the only reason she’s there.

The audio description is one of the stronger points, as it helps as many of the jokes that are attempted. They even try to describe McCarthy’s costume. She looks like she went to a renaissance fair.

But, this isn’t any good. I want it to be, and if I had my wish, it would be. McCarthy would be in nothing but stellar films and TV shows for the rest of her career. She spent too many years early on in bit parts to see her career slowly collapse on streaming services.

Sadly…

Final Grade: D+