Went to see Her, the new romantic sci-fi drama comedy (or something) from Spike Jonze… the weirdly neat guy who made Being John Malkovitch and Where the Wild Things Are (and the Christopher Walken-infused video Weapon of Choice and the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage video). This is the flick where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his phone/operating system (think Siri) voiced by the smoky/sultry voice of Scarlet Johanson.
This movie has something to say about love… what it means to be in love and to fail in love, what our technology means to us, and how loneliness and melancholy can lead to some level of desperation. It’s a honest, heart-felt movie set in a believable near future with a premise that sounds silly but the actors totally sell it.
What surprised me is that, despite its premise, I didn’t think it was going to be as sci-fi as it was… I thought it would just use the premise of a disembodied voice to discuss love and romance (and it does) but it also spends time on the implications of an AI’s processing speed and its ability to communicate with people (though, to be fair, it doesn’t go as far as it could have and it doesn’t feel like a push-your-glasses-up-your-nose
The movie is very funny, very somber, very sweet, and very long… it could have served to spend a little less time telling its story. I was fully bought in for awhile but it slowly started to lose me as it kept going (126 minute running time).
Don’t let the silly-sounding premise turn you off… it’s extremely well acted film with an idea and a vision, intelligence, sweetness, and heart ache.
Score: 78