Her Review

There are two types of directors; there are those who decide to work constantly, and those who work very sparingly. Personally, I rarely enjoy the works of those who make movies constantly. The problem with the busy bees is that they often don't seem to care about the quality, they'll spit out any movie that's thrown their way; but getting to see the movies of those who don't do a lot is usually a treat. You have directors like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan who make a movie only once every few years, so whenever we get a new movie it's usually a celebration. So of all those who don't often work, Spike Jonze might be the king. One of the most talented directors in the industry, the guy's only made four movies in the past 14 years. While his filmography might not me as extensive as someone like Steven Spielberg, he manages to make each of his films great; and his newest movie "Her" is no exception. Taking place in the near future, "Her" follows a recently separated man named Theodore. Theodore is pretty anti-social, and seems to have trouble around people. One day he learns of a new type of operating system for his computer, an artificiality intelligent OS. Theodore decides to install it, once done he ends up with an OS that calls herself Samantha. At first he's not sure how to act around Samantha, finding the whole situation a little strange but he learns to cope and becomes rather fond of her. After a while they both start to develop feelings for each other, feelings neither one of them know how to handle. So while confused, they decided to enter into a relationship with each other (which isn't the first time this has happened to someone). They quickly fall madly in love with each other, but are often challenged with the fact that Samantha doesn't have a body and feels very distant from Theodore. So while it's not easy, both set out to make it work but are met with obstacles at every corner. "Her" is a surprisingly brilliant movie, and one of the best love stories we've seen in the past few years. Spike Jonze is a very unique director, I can't really think of anyone else like him. "Her" is his first movie he actually wrote himself, and he did a damn fine job; the movie manages to be both sincere and funny throughout. I will say that some scenes can be rather awkward for movie goers at times, and the movie also manages to get rather slow every once in a while; while there are a number of very interesting scenes, the time in between them can get a little boring. And at times, the movie can feel a bit pretentious. It's not as in your face as some other artsy movies, but you certainly get the feeling. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, and while he is somewhat of a nut job the guy is a super talented actor and gives a really great performance; but surprisingly, the real show stopper is Scarlet Johansson as Samantha. She manages to put an amazing amount of passion and emotion into just a voice role. If we are ever going to see someone get nominated for an Oscar because of a voice role, it might actually be Johansson. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie would have to be the setting; it takes place in a very plausible future. It even manages to touch on some very interesting moral ground, can you love a computer even if it is sentient and manages to love and feel just like any person. While "Her" was only just released in my area, it was originally released in December of 2013. If I had seen this last year, it certainly would have made it on my top ten list. "Her" is one of the most unique and best movies I've seen in the past few years. It certainly not for everyone, I'd suggest this more for the hardcore film fans who like the artsy movies. If that's something you might be interested in, this is a must see and has my highest recommendation. 

Pros: Fantastic screenplay, great performance by Joaquin Phoenix, Johansson puts a lot of emotion into a voice role, interesting look at the future, several very funny scenes. 

Cons: Rather pretentious, often slow, some scenes can be awkward for movie goers. 

4.5/5 Stars