In the days leading up to Christmas, auction house worker Bernard Bottle (Paapa Essiedu) sees his life fall apart as he misses his daughter Eve's (Jordyn McIntosh) birthday after working late which causes his wife Julie to have them take a break during the holiday. With Bernard also fired by his boss Oliver Flaxman (Alan Cumming) Bernard seems poised to have a depressing Christmas, but his chance encounter with an antique box unleashes Flora (Melissa McCarthy), a 2,000-year-old Celtic tribesman who's been cursed to be a genie. Now given the opportunity for unlimited wishes, Bernard sets out trying to win his family back while also showing Flora the wonders of the modern world.
Genie is a 2023 Christmas comedy written by prolific British writer Richard Curtis and is a remake of Curtis' own 1991 BBC TV film Bernard and the Genie that featured Alan Cumming and Lenny Henry in the original roles. The film debuts on Peacock in time for the Holiday season as Peacock continues to cultivate their content library and while I was skeptical, Curtis shows that he can do enough new with the premise to make it justify itself which is helped along by the solid chemistry of Melissa Mcarthy and Paapa Essiedu.
As the film is a remake of a 1991 TV move that barely clocked over an hour in length, Curtis reframes the material to have a more focused narrative with the story engine being Bernard winning his wife and child back following the inciting incident of being forced to work too late. This formula is nothing new as it's been part and parcel to many formula comedies from the 90s that built themselves around the "workaholic dad" trope, but as far as it's incorporation of the trope it feels like Curtis is taking a more nuanced approach to it than many of its forebearers. While Genie does revisit many of the setpieces of the 1991 TV film, Curtis does also include some new spins on the material including a very funny scene involving Bernard's family and the wishes they make. Paapa Essiedu and Melissa McCarthy have terrific chemistry as Bernard and Flora and this is probably some of McCarthy's finest comedic work I've seen from her in some time and she feels more like a character and less like an over the top archetype as has been a recurring issue with her characters. Admitting some things are maybe a little downgraded from the original such as Alan Cumming's rather thankless role as Flaxman who's meant to be an analogue to Rowan Atkinson's Pinkworth from the original, and while Flaxman is used to get the story moving he never creates a memorable creep on the same level Atkinson did in the original because that part is considerably scaled back.
I honestly really enjoyed Genie. It doesn't break too far from the mold of this kind of high concept comedy formula but with solid chemistry from its leads and some genuinely sharp writing from Richard Curtis, Genie provided a welcome bit of light hearted Christmas fare that got me in a festive mood.
Genie is a 2023 Christmas comedy written by prolific British writer Richard Curtis and is a remake of Curtis' own 1991 BBC TV film Bernard and the Genie that featured Alan Cumming and Lenny Henry in the original roles. The film debuts on Peacock in time for the Holiday season as Peacock continues to cultivate their content library and while I was skeptical, Curtis shows that he can do enough new with the premise to make it justify itself which is helped along by the solid chemistry of Melissa Mcarthy and Paapa Essiedu.
As the film is a remake of a 1991 TV move that barely clocked over an hour in length, Curtis reframes the material to have a more focused narrative with the story engine being Bernard winning his wife and child back following the inciting incident of being forced to work too late. This formula is nothing new as it's been part and parcel to many formula comedies from the 90s that built themselves around the "workaholic dad" trope, but as far as it's incorporation of the trope it feels like Curtis is taking a more nuanced approach to it than many of its forebearers. While Genie does revisit many of the setpieces of the 1991 TV film, Curtis does also include some new spins on the material including a very funny scene involving Bernard's family and the wishes they make. Paapa Essiedu and Melissa McCarthy have terrific chemistry as Bernard and Flora and this is probably some of McCarthy's finest comedic work I've seen from her in some time and she feels more like a character and less like an over the top archetype as has been a recurring issue with her characters. Admitting some things are maybe a little downgraded from the original such as Alan Cumming's rather thankless role as Flaxman who's meant to be an analogue to Rowan Atkinson's Pinkworth from the original, and while Flaxman is used to get the story moving he never creates a memorable creep on the same level Atkinson did in the original because that part is considerably scaled back.
I honestly really enjoyed Genie. It doesn't break too far from the mold of this kind of high concept comedy formula but with solid chemistry from its leads and some genuinely sharp writing from Richard Curtis, Genie provided a welcome bit of light hearted Christmas fare that got me in a festive mood.