Review of Jexi (2019) by Davrosdaleks1 — 22 Oct 2019

8/10.

Jexi is about the titular Siri/Alexa-like phone program (voiced by Rose Byrne) with a mind of her own who ends up wreaking havoc with the life of an introverted phone addict played by Adam Devine. I generally liked this.

Jexi makes this film. Her smack talking brings the biggest laughs. I also appreciated that this avoids some of the cliches you usually get with AI-run-amok films. Jexi lets you know what she is from the get-go. There's no slow burn of her pretending to act regularly or slowly gaining sentience. However, her arc does become more predictable in the second half.

They really didn't have to hire a known actor to do this. Plenty of people could've easily spoken in a phone-like voice without vocal change. Still, I do admit that Byrne does a good job. I also liked the usually more over-the-top Devine who does a good job with a more subdued role. (This is especially a relief because I didn't think he did a great job in his last straight man role in Isn't it Romantic.).

Understand that this movie works more on a feel-good level than a laugh-a-minute one. Jexi is in about every other scene. When she isn't there, some people may find some of the scenes, many of them involving Devine's character predictably growing as a person, too leisurely for their taste.

This film is a little lightweight. It's not something you need to see immediately, but it's worth giving a chance sometime.