Technology and society’s relationship with it has been the focus over many films over the years. In Spike Jonze’s film we see how technological advances leads to an unconventional romance.
In a futuristic Los Angeles Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is lonely and going through a stressful divorce. When he purchases an A.I operating system called Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) the two begins to form an unexpecting relationship.
The world inahbited in Her is very similar to ours but where technology is five minutes into the future. I could believe a lot of the technology we see here being made in the future, if not already being developed. The main focus is on humans relationship with technology, while you would expect all this new tech to be isolating (and some early scenes show how this could be the case) Theodore’s relationship with Samantha opens him up to the world in a way he never did before.
At first I thought that Theodore would come across as a bit creepy and be unable to cope with a real woman with her own thoughts and that’s why he’s in a relationship with an OS. Luckily the film is more complex than that and while Samantha may be an A.I she also comes across as real and complicated just like everyone else.
Phoenix is great in the lead-which is good as he is in practically every scene. And he’s especially good when you think about the fact he is reacting to someone who wouldn’t have been present in the room with him, yet you believe in his bond with Samantha. As someone who is only present through her voice Johansaan is a dominating force and manages not to come across as robotic but still have an otherworldly feeling to her character that marks her out as not human. I also liked Amy Adam and Rooney Mara in supporting roles that add differing views on the central relationship.
The only thing I wasn’t sure of was the ending, not that it was a bad ending but the whole third act seemed a bit random. Hopefully if I watched it again maybe the climax will make more sense.
Rating 4/5 – intelligent, funny and strangely romantic
mykindofmovie 
Great review Lauren, you’ve made me want to watch this! Wasn’t sure, but it sounds like something I would actually enjoy 🙂
I’m glad the review made you want to check it out. I wasn’t too sure about watching the film at first but once I saw it I thought it was great.
It did! I wasn’t too keen either but you’ve made it sound a little different to maybe what I assumed 🙂
Hey Lauren great review, most of the points youv’e brought up about the film remind me of why I enjoyed it when I saw it in the cinema. It was a very impressive, thought-provoking and dramatic. I don’t recall the ending so I can’t speak for whether it didn’t work for me or not, probably will have to look at my old review haha. Also correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t Chris Pratt in this film too? His role was small but I did enjoy seeing him there.
Yes Chris Pratt was in it, so that was a nice surprise to see him pre Guardians of the Galaxy.