Deeply disturbing

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2014)

There is something deeply unsettling about this movie, something dark underneath its tongue-in-cheek surface. When I finished watching I actually had a bout of depression almost as bad the main character's, but I couldn't quite explain why.
It's a good movie, but definitely not something to watch on a weekday.
No doubt "Her" is likely to be praised for its the exploration the topic of AI & consciousness. Although it did a good job, to me that is the least interesting aspect of this movie. It is a topic that has been beaten to death in sci-fi, and I have long ago taken it as a given that machine consciousness may one day be no less real than human consciousness.
The story of the relationship between man and machine is a little contrived, especially the sex part. Why would an evolving AI that is not constrained by the rules of biology suddenly develop human sexual instincts, including all their baggage? However, if you are willing to overlook that part and play along with the director, the movie will skilfully guide you to the core message.
And that is the message that really messes with your head. It is a message about human evolutionary psychology, about the unavoidable conflict of interest in romantic relationships that is imposed upon us by our nature. As a species, we are too intelligent not to see the ugliness within us but not intelligent enough to fix it.
Finally, "Her" is spot on in its prediction of a near future. It is a future that may come sooner than we think, and the movie exposes some aspects of that future that worry me, and I am about as enthusiastically cornucopian as it gets.