GENIE
UK/US, 2023, 93 minutes, Colour.
Melissa McCarthy, Paapa Esiedu, Denee Benton, Jordyn McIntosh, Alan Cumming, Mark Maron, Tate Ellington, Luis Guzman.
Directed by Sam Boyd.
Let’s imagine. We have three wishes for a Christmas film. Would you wish for a family theme? Of course. Would you wish for some magic and fantasy? Again, of course. But who would you wish for to play a genie? Maybe not, of course, Melissa McCarthy. But, then, why not? And here she is (perhaps something of a distant relative to Robin Williams in his Aladdin mode).
But, stop a moment! If you are in a sophisticated frame of mind, wary of sentiment, certainly not wanting anything very “very nice”, and if you demand down-to-earth realism, don’t come near Genie.
On the other hand, if you are in a happy mood, no objections to sentiment, niceness, improbabilities instead of realism, why not meet Melissa McCarthy as Flora McAllister, a genie in a box for 2000 years, suddenly released in New York City, the 2020s, adapting extraordinarily instantly, accent and contemporary vocab, some momentary flashbacks to her being condemned and boxed by an evil sorcerer, and her happy mentioning that she had met Jesus in his time, Cana, loaves and fishes, and now told that he was the son of God when she thought he was kidding!
There is a lot of this kind of dialogue, plenty of sentiment, plenty of goodwill, plenty of niceness – and, surprisingly written by Richard Curtis, a remake of his 1991 film, Bernard and the Genie, after a good number of of Blackadder comedies and well before Four Weddings, Knotting Hill and, is Christmas show, have a popular, Love, Actually. (Probably lots more Blackadder here then Love, Actually.)
So, a family story, very familiar, father caught up in work, put upon by his smarmy boss, played by Alan Cumming (who actually played Bernard in the original). Bernard is forced to miss his daughter’s eighth birthday, his wife dismayed, deciding to go to her mother’s, as always seems to happen. Bernard is played by British actor, Paapa Essiedu, looks and sounds very much like Chiwitel Ejiofor. He finds a box, rubs it and hey presto (or something equivalent, here is flora the genie.
If you enjoy Melissa McCarthy on screen, you will very much like her here, much the same, lots of wisecracks, extraordinarily American after 2000 years in the box, providing plenty of wishes for Bernard, allowing a lot of backtracking on wishes, going off with Bernard on a shopping spree, extravagantly wishing, a kind of consumerist Christmas – though Bernard explains to Flora that Christmas has become too commercialised and that is where he starts to explain to her about Jesus and Christmas and she does her reminiscing about him.
You don’t have to be Einstein or Shakespeare to know where this is all going. The point is just to enjoy the fantasy, hope that Bernard will be reconciled with his wife and daughter – and enjoy some comic situations along the way, the wish that the Mona Lisa be in the apartment in exchange for a football jersey souvenir (Bernard not realising that the real one will switch from the Louvre to his apartment with consequent police investigations!), And Flora going to the movies, swept up by the action of a mission impossible film and getting the most enormous crush on Tom Cruise!
Yes, it is very light, perhaps a bit silly, but, apart from the vociferously condemning serious-minded bloggers, a bit of enjoyment for the Christmas season – and all through the year!
- The title, expectations, Genie stories, precedent genies like Robin Williams?
- Writing by Richard Curtis, his original film, his long tradition in writing British comedy?
- The New York settings, the city, views, apartments, the streets, the markets, shops, movies? The musical score?
- Bernard, a nice man, his employment, his boss holding him up, the smarmy boss and his money, forcing Bernard to work, his being late, the present for his daughter, missing her eighth birthday, the reaction of his wife, the decision to move to her mother’s? The familiar situation?
- Bernard, the box, rubbing it, Flora McAllister appearing, in the box for 2000 years, Melissa McCarthy and her comic style, repartee, very American, jokes about her appearance, changes of clothes, discovering pizza, the shopping, big car, going to the movies, the crush on Tom Cruise? Her explanation of the wishes, unlimited, not just three, able to reverse? Her appearing and disappearing?
- The family story, Bernard and his discovering his limitations, love for his wife, outings with his daughter, the gift of the huge dolls house, the meals together? The comic sequence of his own family all turning up and being given three wishes, even the wish that one of them go to Hell, and reversed, still charred?
- Lenny, at the desk, his theory of parallel worlds, friendly with Bernard, his family, chatting up Flora, and the comic ending with him leaving, doing his own work, and Flora in the kitchen!
- The buildup to the climax, Bernard dismayed that his wife still wanted time, reappraising his wishes?
- The wish for Flora to be free? And his wish that he could start again, the jokey wish that his boss donate millions from his personal account for British and his dismay? The boss trying to hold him up, Bernard telling him off, resigning, going home, the delight of his wife and daughter?
- The 2020s Christmas fantasy?
