Pass the Popcorn review

Rating: 9/10 (15 January 2014)

I wrote and posted this review using my computer and the internet, and you are reading this review using a computer and the internet – it's not a secret technology has forever changed how we function, operate and interact with other people; technology has become a big part of our everyday life. And from the looks of it, technology in the future will become more and more advanced and will soon play an even bigger part in our life. Spike Jonze's latest movie – Her – deals with the topic of human obsession with technology (among other things) and is probably one of the best movies I've seen in a while.
Set in what is, possibly, the near future, 'Her' follows Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely man whose job is to write love letters in the name of other people. He leads a troubled life – he's recently gotten separated (but not divorced) from his wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) and he spends his solitary life, mostly, by having a hard time prioritizing between video games and Internet porn. Apart from his work colleagues Paul (Chris Pratt) and Amy (Amy Adams), he has no interactions with other people whatsoever. One day he decides to purchase an operating system, chooses the operating system's voice to be female and the operating system introduces herself as Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). Soon he falls in love with her.
While the premise of 'Her' is rather simple and the movie itself isn't groundbreakingly original (it tends to get kind of predictable and it somewhat reminded me of Lars and the Real Girl), Spike Jonze easily managed to overcome these obstacles and to create a very sweet and charming movie. And he managed to do all that by creating fascinating, appealing characters and developing interesting relationships between them. The relationship between Samantha and Theodore is at the same time unquestionably touching and challengingly provocative. 'Her' attempts to portray more than stereotypical love: it attempts to analyze the nature of love itself, the nature of people, and the nature of artificial intelligence – and it often works both as a character study and as a philosophical movie.
Even though Theodore's compassion and love for Samantha can be rationally explained, his actions are still undoubtedly driven by his emotions. It's the same for me. My love for 'Her' could easily be rationalized – I could explain how Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as ever, how Scarlett Johansson is the perfect choice for the sensual voice of Samantha, how the movie's soundtrack is great, how Spike Jonze's directing is brilliant and how it accurately portrays the human race's obsession with technology without patronizing too much – but all these arguments fall flat in comparison with the fact that 'Her' is a heartwarming, heart-wrenching, soul-stirring and a very beautiful story overall.
Rating: 9/10 Read more reviews at http://passpopcorn.com/