Although having ventured into serious acting – by her standards at least – with the highly entertaining Can You Ever Forgive Me?, it’s clear that Melissa McCarthy feels more confident with roles with a broader comedy stroke.

To that end, it’s beginning to feel like she’s becoming this generation’s Jerry Lewis, with an appreciation for slapstick comedy, as we as quirky dialogue with more than a hint of improv.

Joining her as her Dean Martin foil as it were, is Oscar-winning Octavia Spencer, who lets her hair down for superhero inspired fun.

Emily Stanton (Spencer) felt like she had a point to prove, when her parents, both scientists, were murdered by a new breed of super-villain known as Miscreants. At the time they were working on way of defeating these new baddies, by being able to give super powers to regular folk. Unfortunately for them, they died before their work came to fruition.

Emily struggled to make friends at school, mainly as she was focused on continuing her parents’ work and she was labelled a nerd, but she had one friend who stood by her side, Lydia (McCarthy).

Twenty years on, their friendship has waned, but Lydia decides to hold out an olive branch by inviting Emily to a school reunion. When Emily is a no-show, Lydia visits her at work, an impressive building with Emily’s name on.

Emily confides in Lydia that she has been working hard all these years, and believes she’s finally come up with a solution to make superheroes, which is just as well as Miscreants are starting to make their presence felt more and more in Chicago.

Emily makes one huge mistake, not in confiding in Lydia, but leaving her alone with her advanced tech, which Lydia somehow injects into herself.

With Lydia now displaying impressive feats of strength, and Emily taking a concoction to make her invisible, the pair are prepared to take on the enemy foe, but not as Emily and Lydia, but Thunder Force!

The last ten years of McCarthy’s career has proven one thing, that she likes familiarity when it comes to her working environ. This is illustrated by the fact that this is the fifth project she has done to be directed by her husband Ben Falcone. Falcone is either equally as committed, or just doesn’t register on the radar of other producers, as he’s only ever been given the opportunity to direct when his wife is the star. And unfortunately for them both, the results (Tammy, The Boss, Life of the Party, Superintelligence) have been wholly disappointing.

But although Thunder Force is by no means a comedy classic, it certainly bucks the trend by actually often being mildly amusing.

The reason is McCarthy herself. She appears to both enjoy and embrace the role of a middle-aged superhero, and because of this, delivers one of her most entertaining roles in years.

It may also have something to do with hubby Falcone too, who displays a fondness for his comic book material, as well as allowing for a number of entertaining visual gags; if you don’t appreciate the comical way Jason Bateman exists certain scenes, then the chances are, this film isn’t for you.

Certainly Bateman’s role adds to the humour of the film, especially with scenes shared with McCarthy, as the pair ham it up with a particular crustaceous flair. So much so that the idea of Bateman having a spin-off film of his own, wouldn’t necessarily be the worst decision ever.

The film should also receive some kudos for making a superhero film with its two main protagonists not being Lycra-hugging, chiselled-featured, examples of perfect youthful specimens, but being two middle-aged women. This is a time in cinema where certainly women of a certain age are often ignored, or at the very least used sparingly, so to see both McCarthy and the talented Spencer both take centre stage, and having such a ball doing it, can only be a good thing.

To be clear, this isn’t a vast improvement in terms of her recent output, but the simple fact that there are some genuine laughs to be had, which can’t be said for many of the others, already catapults Thunder Force into a far more entertaining realm.