Her AKA The ONE Time I Wrongly Prejudged a Movie

So you and I probably had the same first impression of the movie Her after seeing the trailer. I believe my exact words were “What’s the big deal? A man falls in love with Scarlett Johansson’s voice. Not exactly earth-shattering.” I put it just a notch above phone sex that had been scripted and filmed. I also had my lingering doubts about Joaquin Pheonix since that whole crazy rapper/fake rapper/fake movie debacle (if you don't know about that, where were you in 2009? Google Joaquin Phoenix Hoax). So, despite my usual attempt to go into a movie clear of bias, I was pretty sure this one was not going to be my cup of tea. 

Now, I will say this once, and never again. I may have ever so slightly miscalculated and been possibly... wrong. You go into Her thinking you will be able to anticipate every possible plot turn, thinking you have heard this story a million times before, or that it is not a story worth hearing. But, this film surprised me in so many wonderful ways. One of them was the way the film was able to disarm me and open me up to the story by creating a world ever-so-slightly in the future, but entirely and uncomfortably believable. It's not flying cars and men on Mars, it's Apple's successor (not really, but it's so integrated into life that it could be) creating a product that everyone just adopts. This new AI operating system (that would be Scarlett Johansson) is something that everyone begins to experiment with at the same time and something everyone must then learn to incorporate in society's norms. If everyone is having a meaningful (not always romantic) relationship with their computer, what does that mean? Seeing and experiencing this concept is much better than me explaining it, but the film does an incredible job of raising questions that suddenly seem important given the close reality of this future America. I'm not even someone who enjoys hours of philosophizing, but it is impossible not to get wrapped up in how human nature could so easily (and possibly realistically) evolve. Props to Phoenix, Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and Chris Pratt who all made this film a gem.