Her (2013)

I loved this movie on the level that wherever I am I see people, young and old, staring at their smart phones in many inappropriate places.  Like at a very nice dinner with a dozen people sitting around the table I will see someone attending to their phone while a stimulating conversation is swirling around them.  So beware, this is a cautionary tale.



Theodore (played remarkably by Joaquin Phoenix) is an ordinary guy that we can all relate to.  He checks his e-mail on the ride home from work. However, his smart phone and its earpiece work in a futuristic way that is different from ours, and soon it becomes clear that "this is something of a science-fiction film, set in the not-too-distant but distinctly fantastic future. A big part of the movie's charm is just how thoroughly Jonze has imagined and constructed this future Los Angeles, from its smoggy skies to its glittering skyscrapers to its efficient mass transit system (well, that part is harder to believe).

This sets the stage for an unusual love story: Theo, still highly damaged and sensitive over the breakup of his marriage, falls in love with the artificially intelligent operating system of his computer. The movie focuses on Theo's interaction with his OS, Samantha. Samantha is reorganizing Theo's files, making him laugh, and developing something like a human consciousness.  It is interesting and troubling simultaneously. Samantha is a computer, so she has the ability to process data at a higher speed than humans.  Who can compete with that?  And while Samantha's programming is designed to make her likable to Theo, and soon we are liking her too.  She seems like the perfect girlfriend.  Except that she is not real.

In the midst of the heavy implications of falling in love with a machine, the movie finds time for real comedy. At first Theo feels a little odd about his new "girlfriend," and then finds out that his pal Amy (Amy Adams) is getting caught up in a relationship with the OS left behind by her estranged husband. The movie never appears to be an all-out satire, Jonze drops potentially frightening hints about how the existence of artificial intelligence in human society might affect us. It is either very depressing or very thought provoking, or maybe a bit of both, with a satisfying ending.