Review of Her (2013) by Apollodorus — 16 Jan 2014

What is good about this film: the cool pants and the guy from Parks and Recreation. What is bad: everything else. I'm astounded that it has received such positive reviews. Most of these reviews focus on the poignancy and believability of the characters.

Joacquin Phoenix plays a great, solipsistic loser who lives only by constructing around himself a world of sentiment borrowed from how he imagines other people feel. Scarlett Johansson plays a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in the form of an intelligent operating system.

The only line of real poignancy is delivered by Joacquin's character's (his name is Theodore Trombley-- could anything softer and more milquetoast be invented?) ex-wife: they are perfect for each other.

Neither of them are anything close to real people, but the viewer is subjected to a long romantic scenes in which this putz courts his cell phone. If you are like me, you will laugh and cry, but not when the movie wants you to.

I imagine that it is so highly rated either because its audience is narrow and self-selecting, or because most of those who see it quickly want to forget it. I can't explain it otherwise.