Quirky Unique Romance

Rating: 5/10 (30 January 2014)

CONTAINS SPOILERS Her is a unique Sci-Fi-Romance. Essentially, the story revolves around a very romantic man who has all the basics you could ask for in life: a steady job, good health, and a nice home yada yada. But this man, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is still feeling emptiness from a recent divorce from his wife. His ex-wife, a friend, and his lover which is an operating system all make up a circle of women in his life that explain much of Phoenix's character. Jonze's script weaves each of the women, played absolutely brilliantly by Rooney Mara, Amy Adams, and Scarlett Johansson to accomplish the goal of exposing all of Phoenix's character's way of thinking, personality, flaws, etc. There is so much that can be analyzed about his relationships, but in the end I believe Phoenix settles for his friend Amy Adams due to the fact that Humans have to be with other humans due to the flaws present within ourselves.
Overall, Her is alright. Yes the cinematography is beautiful, the acting(and voice acting) is powerful, the script is complex, and it breeds loads of emotional reactions and questions. But not only did I not like the assumption that every human is inherently as romantic as Phoenix is in the film, I did not like the constant existentialist dry loneliness that Her drilled into the viewer... And Phoenix's mustache....but then again on a serious point, Spike Jonze is able to create a unique film that intelligently telegraphs many of the questions we as humans will have to ask ourselves about the prominence of technology in the future.