A Utopian world with the same old male-female sexual hang-ups...

Rating: 6/10 (21 June 2014)

Spike Jonze wrote and directed this curiously acclaimed drama involving a professional letter writer (!), vulnerable in the midst of divorce proceedings from the wife who grew away from him, answering a few general questions on-line and being assigned an O.S. (Operating Systems) assistant--a female voice who does much more than answer his e-mails. It turns out she has the opinions and humor and feelings of an actual girlfriend--she can be brought to orgasm--and soon our downtrodden hero is smitten. A beautifully-presented piece of tosh; set in a pristine, fantasy-version of Los Angeles, the film shows off Jonze's style but not much of his wit. His script goes around in circles, covering the same relationship clichés most film-goers have already slogged through ("Why didn't you call?", "Why do you sound so distant?"). It's to lead actor Joaquin Phoenix's credit that the unbelievable central character comes off as well as he does. Apparently drawn to marriage and coupling by nature--he's 'sensitive'--this bespectacled man, who dresses in bright, bold colors, lives like a hermit and obsesses about sex (he's more about the sex than romance, despite the flashbacks to his marriage, but is tentative and aloof the morning after...like all men?). Jonze seems to think he's speaking for the world with these emotional entanglements (while scoring points for human isolation and alienation on the side), but the territory has been covered, no matter how fancy the packaging. **1/2 from ****