GENIE (NETFLIX) (2023)

SYNOPSIS: With his life unraveling around him, Bernard dusts off a jewelry box and unintentionally releases genie Flora, who might just be able to help him.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Honestly, writer Richard Curtis hasn’t had a massive hit for a while although the 69 year old is still pretty prolific in the Hollywood circle. The 2023 television movie, Genie is adapted from his 1991 television film, Bernard and the Genie and stars Melissa McCarthy as the titular character.

Bernard Bottle (Paapa Essiedu) is a hardworking man working at a New York auction house. However, his stressful job left him with little time to spend with his wife, Julie (Denée Benton) and nine year old daughter, Eve. Disappointed with Bernard missing his daughter’s birthday celebration, Julie decides to leave Bernard and instead spends the festive season with her mother.

With no one around to spend the holidays with him, Bernard starts dusting an old jewelry box only to release a 2000 year old genie named Flora (Melissa McCarthy). With unlimited wishes at his beck and call, Bernard teams up with the cheeky Flora hoping to win over Julie and Eve. Will there be a happy ending for Bernard?

McCarthy’s Genie in some ways are similar to Will Ferrell’s Elf. Both experiencing silly fish out of water situations in the big city of New York, navigating modern technology and stuff. If you are concerned about McCarthy overdoing her comedy stints, she is charming and engaging, very much rein in for this PG13 comedy. There’s some genuinely funny gags liked the Genie eating hand sanitizer and developing a soft spot for Tom Cruise. In short, Genie works for the most time because of McCarthy’s humorous seemingly innocent antics.

Genie is more of a Christmas, holiday movie than a Richard Curtis one. There is this whole story arc of redemption and messages of being kind and hopeful which is pretty decent and educational for the family. However, it’s not that sufficient to fill up a 90 minutes movie so there is a silly subplot of the Mona Lisa being stolen by Bernard just because he makes a wish to replace his framed Messi jersey with the famous painting.

Bear in mind, this is made for television so you get a chance to see some 80s and 90s visual effects like the magic carpet flying scene. Genie is definitely forgettable but is it worth catching? Well for a start, McCarthy isn’t that annoying. Her chemistry with Essiedu is sweet and emotional. Familiar faces liked Luis Guzman cameos as Detective Perez and Alan Cumming plays Bernard’s selfish boss, Oliver. If you missed this during last Christmas maybe just watch it come November 2025. Just ten more months to the festive season.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee