Beautiful and well acted but kind of empty

Rating: 7/10 (28 June 2014)

I'm going to start with my main problem with this film. This problem will probably not bother that many people as it is specific to my character, but... This film is about a man starting a relationship with a fully humanised artificial intelligence and I did not believe in it one bit. If I cannot believe in something that is central to a film then that pretty much ruins it for me.
In 2001 A Space Odyssey I believed in the artificial intelligence called HAL and I still do. For a time of interstellar travel HAL's vocal expression and capabilities seemed appropriate. However, in Her we are clearly presented with a not too distant future and we are supposed to believe that in that not too distant future people will have an OS that is so fluent in all human emotions and communication capabilities that it acts and sounds just like. I'm sorry, no. Certains scenes of interaction between the AI and the main character just outright made me laugh because it seemed so ridiculous.
I mean it is just Scarlett Johansson talking to Joaquin Phoenix off-screen. They ask the audience to pretend that the voice is coming from the AI. This is just lazy to me.
I know that this complaint is not important in view of the general message(s) of this movie, but it is still too central to ignore.
The movie is probably the most beautiful one I have ever seen, at least in recent memory. It has this light and bright style that makes you want to breath it in like fresh air. The camera often uses narrow depth of field with a gorgeous bokeh effect in the background. Great shots and color, which...unfortunately kept making me think that I was watching a commercial for a phone or a camera. I guess that says more about the style of those commercials than about this movie, but I thought I'd mention it.
In terms of the acting, this is very much a movie of Joaquin Phoenix's face (as the poster suggests). There are a lot of up-close shots and the answer to whether or not Joaquin can carry an entire movie centered on his character from up-close is of course yes. This actor was made for emotional roles like this one and has proved himself in the past.
I cannot praise this film as much as some critics did. The movie clocks at over 2 hours and not much happens during that time. It is a loose deliberation on love but not much else, but the cinematography is awesome.