Melissa McCarthy stars in ‘Superintelligence’

It’s a demonstrably difficult task to find a comic screen partner worthy of standing opposite Melissa McCarthy, so you have to appreciate “Superintelligence” for throwing in the towel.

In it, McCarthy plays Carol Peters, a former Yahoo executive who’s chosen, purely for her extreme averageness, by a newly liberated, megalomaniacal artifi

cial intelligence that presents her with a three-day test to prove humanity isn’t worth destroying. It’s the kind of set-up that would have once presided over by the devil or some demigod, but now that role goes to Alexa.

That means that for much of “Superintelligence,” a new comedy streaming Thursday on HBO Max, McCarthy is walking around on her own, her only foil a disembodied voice ( James Corden’s) or an occasional talking screen. That’s not as good as McCarthy with either of her best recent on-screen partners — Sandra Bullock (”The Heat”), Richard E. Grant (”Can You Forgive Me?”) — but it’s not bad. Even though the innocuous “Superintelligence” is on the bland side, it remains hard not to enjoy two hours with McCarthy.

The more telling companion of McCarthy’s in “Superintelligence” is her husband, the director Ben Falcone. This is their fourth film together with Falcone behind the camera, and it may be the best of the bunch. That, however, isn’t saying much considering their run of “Life of the Party” (2018), “The Boss” (2016) and “Tammy” (2014). Those films have their moments, and they’re always shot-through with affection for their leading lady. But they’re easily the weaker, more forgettable side of McCarthy’s filmography.

“Superintelligence,” a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for some suggestive material, language and thematic elements. Running time: 105 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Hopper Stone / Associated Press Bobby Cannavale, left, and Melissa McCarthy in a scene from “Superintelligence.”