Futuristic 2025:
Theodore Twombly is a relationships nightmare. He spends his days at his job where he write letters for those who have the inability to write beautiful things to give to their loved ones – ie… anniversary, birthday, romance, break ups, etc… As Theodore is going through a divorce, his evenings are then spent with fast food and a virtual game that he is fully engaged in. Everywhere he goes, everyone is engrossed in themselves through their own conversations with their phones. Talking to other people seems to be a thing of the past.
One day he sees an ad for an artificial intelligence “assistant” who will manage your appointments through your phone and basically make your life easier. Theodore signs up and then goes through a series on prompts including choosing the voice of his new assistant….
Meet Samantha (voice by Scarlett Johansson). Theodore is impressed that Samantha will become more intelligent as she learns what he is like… she picks up on his habits, reads his emails to him and responds to them if he asks, she cleans up old computer files in a snap, reminds him of appointments, and becomes a companion when he is alone or just wants to talk. The more they talk… the more Samantha’s intelligence grows.
As Samantha starts to take over Theodore’s world, they seem to fall in love. Samantha is always there for him, engaging him, prompting him to be better…. what more could Theodore want? As their fondness for each other continues, Samantha finds it harder to accept that she can not be a physical presence in Theodore’s life, wishing she had a body that he could physically touch and that of course, she would be able to touch him as well.
Of course – a relationship with a piece of software is…
complicated.
Theodore’s soon to be ex-wife finds out about Samantha and accuses Theodore of being someone who can not handle real human emotion so of course he would date his computer. Theodore is left conflicted, wanting a physical relationship, yet wanting it to be with Samantha.
My thoughts….
I was never really interested in the movie Her. The previews seemed weird…. yet I have to admit a bit of intrigue mainly because I could actually imagine this really happening. In today’s world of electronic assistants, on-line calendars, and reminders, talking to our phones for information on restaurants, directions, what a word means, etc… really – how far off from this “companionship” could we be?
It was friends telling me the movie was actually good, that brought to renting this movie on a cool evening where I did not want to sit on my deck with my coffee and a book… and so, I watched it.
So….
first up…
what is with the men’s pants?
Seriously? They all had these high wasted “comfy pants” like stretch material. And none of the guys in 2025 are good-looking…NOPE. in fact it looks as though the style has gone backwards and it almost has a seventies feel to it. If this was the choice of men in 2025 my relationship status would be SINGLE.
I am off topic.
The movie held my attention but I by no means loved it. I never “bought” the romance between Theodore and Samantha, and even through what was considered the emotional parts… I never connected with the love for ones phone.
In fact, as the movie ended… I felt that I had more emotions when Tom Hanks lost Wilson in the movie Castaway…
Wilson!!!! Yup…still makes me tear up.
So overall… I am glad I rented this one from Redbox and paid a buck and change to see it rather that an $8.50 movie ticket plus soda and popcorn.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Did you see Her? What did you think?
Is it freaky crazy to think that this could really be in our future?
Is it freakier still to think that this could happen in present time?
Don’t we already connect to artificial intelligence through video games, and our computers and phones now?
How far off are we from thinking these created voices and people are real to us?
Book Journey 
“I had more emotions when Tom Hanks lost Wilson in the movie Castaway” … this cracked me up. 🙂 I haven’t seen this movie. Friends who have seen it had a reaction similar to yours. They didn’t find the relationship between Theodore and Samantha quite convincing, which made the movie underwhelming. It is an interesting premise though.
I could see where it could be convincing… but yeah… it never went there 😀
You just reminded me to place a hold for this movie at the library. That way if I don’t like it, I didn’t waste a dollar! 🙂 I’m not sure how much I’ll buy into this one – I don’t even have a smartphone much less be tempted to ‘love’ it. But I can definitely see people getting addicted to their phones, tablets, computers, etc. I think we have already reached that point!
That’s where the intrigue lies Leslie – the addiction to our phones, etc…. I admit – my phone is always close by. I am a great “responder” because my phone is almost always with me…. mainly it is so I do not become overwhelmed with old messages – emails, texts, etc… I like to stay current with my to dos 😀
I do not however – use an online calendar, personal message assistant etc….
We watched this last night! And thought it needed to be a lot shorter and punchier. But I really want a computer assistant that is as smart as Samantha.
That is so funny – I watched it last night too! 😛
I haven’t seen this one and not sure I’ll watch it, even it comes to TV. What’s sad is that I can totally see some little nerdy guy falling in love with his phone! If I remember correctly, Raj fell for Siri in The Big Bang Theory. And losing Wilson? Brought me to tears!
Terri @ Alexia’s Books and Such…
Oh I forgot about the Big Bang episode… that’s right! He did!
When I came home, the first thing I said to my husband was “do you really think the future men will wear such high waisted trousers?!” Funny you picked up on it too!
I really didn’t enjoy it. I found it slow and oddly cold, considering it was a film all about emotion. I went to see it with my mum which made the weird sex scenes and unnecessary swearing uncomfortable. It could have been really good but it was a let down. I felt the ending was silly, like they panicked because they didn’t know how to end it and suddenly had to think of something semi-dramatic.
I agree – lots of potential but missed by a mile…. I agree the sex scenes were completely unnecessary. I am sure they were trying to show a level of intimacy but …. all I thought was – yuck.
The pants….. you would think future men would be hipper. I am all about comfort but come on! 😀
I didn’t see it yet, but no kidding about the pants! LOL
Right? I would love to read your thoughts on this one Jill.. you always pull something deep out of books. 😀
I haven’t had any interest to watch this at all. I know I’d never buy into the premise. Those pants!!! Ha! And Wiiiiilsooooooon. Sob.
Yeah… thankfully I was working on my laptop at the same time so I was not fully engaged in the movie and my time was not a total waste 😉
I have been seriously on the fence about this one. A man-computer romance just struck me as kind of creepy. Yeah, I get the whole social commentary thing yada, yada….. but … eh. I may see if this is on Netflix streaming … or not.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics
If you do Jen I would love to know what you think 🙂
I really want to see this. I loved your review, though. The pants! Haha. What I do want to know is where do you live that movies are so cheap by you in the theaters? For two, it’s over $25. It’s crazy!! That’s just tickets!!
Central Minnesota 🙂 Wow.. you are a t $12.50 a ticket? I would have really taken a hit if I had paid that for this movie! 😛
I feel ya. I go back and forth on trying this one. I think there is a certain demographic that it will reallly click with. I’m just not sure if I’m it.
You are probably right 😀
I saw this at a $5 theater and actually enjoyed it. The pants were odd for sure (not sure what that was about). But I liked the movie’s creativity and explorations of the heart and feelings of alienation. It was sad in a way. And our busy gadget worlds aren’t far off from the movie. Some lonely lives out there ….
cheers. http://www.thecuecard.com/
It has pretty far ratings so I knew I was not the norm on my opinion. 🙂 You are so right – we do live in a lonely society and what they portray, is probably accurate as we talk less and less and rely on electronics more and more.
I saw this advertised but thought the whole idea was plain stupid. But now that I’ve thought about it more, there are probably some people out there that would get “attached” to someone like Siri. Yikes…weird!
I loved the scenes between Chuck and Wilson in Cast Away!
I loved those scenes too. We were talking about it today at work and I said I cried when Tom lost Wilson in the sea. 😀