Movie review: Genie is a misfire that will not be a Christmas classic
Director Richard Curtis hoped Genie would be a Christmas cracker, but it fails
Melissa McCarthy seems to have lost that spark that made her name
The Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Paapa Essiedu, Denée Benton, Alan Cumming. The Story: A lovelorn New Yorker unwittingly unlocks a genie in his family home.
SINCE she burst on to our screens as the scene-stealing Meghan in smash hit Bridesmaids, Melissa McCarthy has established herself as a US comedy queen.
The actress’s knack for nailing a one-liner has made her one of the film’s most-bankable stars. Yet for all the comedic moments there have been several high-profile flops too.
She was terrific in the pitch black Can You Ever Forgive Me alongside Richard E Grant, but The Boss was a bit of a mess.
The slapstick Spy brought on all the laughs with the help of Jason Statham and Rose Byrne, but Tammy fell badly flat.
With a Melissa McCarthy movie you’re never quite certain what you’re going to get - but Genie offers promise in the form of a Richard Curtis screenplay and I Will Destroy You’s Paapa Essiedu as the co-lead.
Melissa McCarthy seems to have lost that spark that made her name
Curtis is the British screenplay legend who has penned such hit movies as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. But despite the pedigrees of all involved, Genie is a misfire that fails to weave the festive magic it shoots for.
Sky’s big festive comedy is set in New York, where Essiedu is Bernard, an overworked art dealer whose family life has been sacrificed to the tyrannical whims of his nasty boss (Alan Cumming).
When a last-minute meeting leads to him missing his daughter’s birthday, his fed-up wife (The Gilded Age’s Benton) decides they should spend some time out of town with her parents. It hasn’t quite dropped with Bernard yet, but she’s considering a trial separation.
Alone and despondent in his empty family home, Bernard wrenches open an old jewellery box, only to release an ancient genie who might just be able to fix his upended life.
Out she whooshes in the form of Flora (McCarthy), an offbeat, wise-cracking entity with an ability to grant numerous wishes.
McCarthy has a blast with the idea that she has been locked away for generations and knows nothing of the modern world. “This is just a piece of red bread!” she says of a pizza slice she hasn’t yet tasted, before falling in love with the Tom Cruise Run on a first visit to the movies.
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It’s the kind of preposterous affair McCarthy can lark around with, and she and Essiedu work well together, but this fish-out-of-water comedy has been done so much better in movies like Elf.
With some quirky relatives and side characters, Curtis and director Sam Boyd are trying to bring Notting Hill vibes to a New York setting. But the whole idea behind the movie plays way too thin, and it doesn’t have enough of a story arc to really resonate.
Genie is a movie that’s derivative and predictable and less than the sum of its talented parts.
The Verdict: Not destined to become a Christmas classic.
