Our technophlia is taken to its logical conclusion

Rating: 6/10 (24 June 2014)

Is it possible to fall in love with a computer? In a world where it's possible to go on virtual adventures with others in online gaming communities and have cybersex via video conference it doesn't really seem that far-fetched.
Which is why I don't really know what to make of this movie.
"Her" is the story of a romance between a man, Theodore, and his super-advanced OS, set in an ambiguous future. The OS over time forms a personality, christens herself "Samantha," and he falls in love with it with the OS quickly reciprocating his feelings. Soon they hit all the stops of a normal human romantic relationship: they fight, they make up, they share, they go on romantic getaways, they even have sex. Given how attached many of us have become to our electronic devices, the plot certainly seems plausible.
However, the OS is so advanced and so intelligent that it often breaks the suspension of disbelief at times. This is the movie's main problem. Our operating systems are not capable of this level of self-sufficiency or interaction so watching a grown man treat it like a real human lover comes off as hilarious at best and creepy at worst. Maybe someday they might be this advanced, but for now, they're not, and so I found myself laughing at parts that I'm certain weren't supposed to be funny due to how bizarre they are. Perhaps the most unintentionally funny moment is where Theodore gets genuinely hurt when he learns that his OS has other users and thus Samantha is being unfaithful to him. I would think in such a technologically superior world the thought would have at least crossed his mind. The serious tone of the movie doesn't help.
The fact that he tells his friends he's dating his OS and they think nothing of it and a woman agrees to be a sex surrogate for Samantha when she becomes fearful that she can't satisfy him makes it even stranger. To its credit though the movie does establish a world where its implied that others are having similar relationships but I would think his close friends would at least be a little concerned, more so given the fact that he's going through a difficult divorce. The only people who act normal are his ex-wife who rightfully chastises him for dating his computer and a blind date who appropriately runs screaming in the opposite direction. So many people treat it as normal that it strains credibility.
That being said, the movie is not without its share of good qualities. The cinematography is breathtaking and the direction is well done. The sets also have an aesthetic which give them a clean and shiny, but not gratuitous, futuristic feel to them which fits in well with the theme of the movie. But the true winners are the performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johanson as the voice of the OS Samantha as they really sell the material, especially Johanson, considering she probably had to act her part alone in a soundbooth. Both of them give such truly moving and honest performances that one could only imagine what it would've been like if they'd actually got to be on screen together.
The pacing seemed a bit slow as I thought what seemed like an ending came about ninety minutes in only for it to go on for another half-hour. I guess in retrospect it was better that way because it gave a much healthier resolution to the story but that last half-hour seemed a lot longer.
Once it ends it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Since Samantha is an OS just like Windows or MacOS, what would happen to her if the hard drive crashed? Would Theodore's relationship with her be automatically reset if it did? What would happen if she got a virus? Would her speech patterns or thought processes be affected if the computer's RAM got bogged down momentarily? And given the movie's ending, who in their right mind would write a program that would extricate itself from the user's system and venture out into the ether of cyberspace on its own, especially an operating system? Sure, this movie makes it seem sad and bittersweet that Samantha is moving on but if Samantha abandoned the rest of her users, the software company's customer complaint line must be ringing off the hook.
I don't know whether to say I loved or hated this movie. It certainly does make you think about what love really is, our growing reliance on computers, and what would happen if our computers were capable of thinking and experiencing emotion. There were also some excellent performances but the accidental comedy was often on par with "The Room" or "Mommie Dearest" because some of it was just so hard to take seriously. I guess it's a testament to all involved because in less competent hands, this movie could have been a disaster.
The movie did receive rave reviews and I'm sure many people did take it seriously and honestly it's not a bad film in any sense of the word. I guess maybe I just didn't get it or perhaps it's difficult for me to imagine such an advanced piece of software.
Who knows? Maybe one day it will be possible and perhaps I'll be able to look at this film differently. Definitely see it for some terrific performances that are almost good enough to make you buy into it.