This is a movie about everything that Microsoft did wrong when they created Windows 8. They should clearly have created "OS 1 : Samantha edition" instead - for an unmatched success.
Samantha [the voice of Scarlett Johansson] is an instance of a future operating system "OS 1" having highly advanced artificial intelligence. Theodore [Joaquin Phoenix] is a writer of personal "handwritten" letters for other people. He is in the middle of a divorce, only he is having a very hard time accepting it and moving on. He falls in love with this Samantha being and the movie explores this human-computer relationship that may perhaps be a real possibility not too many years from now.
The movie has many really funny moments and even if it takes place in the future they haven't gone over the top with futuristic designs and inventions. It all seems believable and not very far from the world of today. The movie has a slow pace and it is also a bit too long I think, but maybe that was mostly because of a row of high school teenagers sitting behind me, who couldn't keep their fucking mouths shut for half of the movie. Why the hell did they go see a movie like this anyway?
It is surely a movie that has food for thought about the direction our lives and relationships are taking and while some people may hate this development I don't think it can be stopped. I am not even sure I think it is totally bad either. Not bad for everybody anyway.
Somehow Theodore was not the perfect candidate for this human-computer relationship though. He was not lonely enough and not emotionally damaged enough. Joaquin Phoenix certainly does a fine job and the invisible Scarlett Johansson an even better, but I sit back with a feeling that the story could have been even better if Theodore had had a different personality.
The movie's ending is not how I would have preferred it either, because it closes too many doors and I would have liked it to be much more open. But at least it never gets sentimental and it's still a very good movie that won't be forgotten so easily.
Rating:
Movie Title: Her
Director: Spike Jonze
This Release: 2014
Genre: Sci-Fi
RunTime: 126
Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Joaquin Phoenix
Movie Format: Cinema
Content Type: Movie Review
Language:
Updated: 2014-03-20 18:03
Created: 2014-03-20 17:28