Director: Spike Jonze.
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt, Olivia Wilde.
Certificate: 15.
Running Time: 126 minutes.
Synopsis: A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that’s designed to meet his every need.
Man falls in love with machine? It seems like we have hit the age of the romantic technological comedy if HER is anything to go by. But underneath the great visual effects and Joaquin Phoenix’s wonderful ‘tache, it might just be a subject we have become all too familiar with.
Spike Jonze’s HER follows introverted writer Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) as he prepares for his upcoming divorce from wife Catherine (Rooney Mara). Feeling lonely, he purchases an operation system with human-like qualities. Deciding he wants a female OS system, he buys Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), and while the world around him seems to be communicating with their operating systems, he falls in love with his.
Phoenix is no stranger to the brooding introverted type, but the approach to it in HER seems different this time around. As a viewer, you are not entirely sure if you are supposed to like him or not, but either way you still find yourself watching. But the actor that catches your eyes – or ears – the most is Johansson. Her physical self never appears on the screen, but the actress brings great emotion to the role and you can easily see why Ted falls in love with her.
But underneath the impeccable cinematography and the not-Oscar-snub-worthy acting, what does this movie offer? Not much, to be honest. If we were to look at the storyline in a nutshell – a letter writer looking for love finds it in something alternative and kooky – it sounds a lot like (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. And, unless the quirkiness within this independent movie is your thing, it won’t do much for you otherwise.
Though it will struggle to connect with many on a personal level, just because something is not of personal preference does not mean you won’t appreciate what the film does. HER is captivating, enticing and will surely go down a treat with generations to come. While it could have done with being half an hour shorter, it is gorgeous to look at and easy to understand the hype behind. It is definitely aimed at one type of audience, and that audience will be doing cartwheels.
[usr=3] HER is released in UK cinemas on Friday 14th February, 2014.
A commenter.
Feb 12, 2014 at 3:11 am
But what about all the philosophical questions and ideas permeated throughout the subtext? What about its cultural commentary on the human relations, the human psyche, and our concurrent relationship with seemingly inexorable march of new technology? It was a very well written screenplay by Jonze, but your review feels decidedly superficial, focusing mostly on the cosmetics of the movie. Perhaps next time look beyond theatrical exterior, and into the ideas behind it, which in HER’s case, is trenchant and accomplished.