Her

[threeplusfire]

Yesterday Mike had jury duty, for a murder trial. Except witnesses didn't show up and so the whole thing was shelved. He got to spent the day wandering downtown instead. After work I drove down to meet him at the Drafthouse to see Her. I hadn't been terribly enthusiastic about seeing it, even though the general premise (man falls in love with an artificial intelligence) is right up my alley. Turns out my nebulous fears were justified.



I think Spike Jonez can make amazing movies, and there were a ton of really good actors in this film. But I left feeling angry and slightly disgusted that a story about the goddamn singularity was happening right in front of us and we didn't really tap into it at all. Instead it was all about Sad Nice Guy feelings.

This movie focuses on Theodore's oh so sad feelings. He's a sensitive guy who writes beautiful heartfelt letters for a living. (Okay, I really wish I had the job of working at BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com because awesome.) But he's refusing to sign to his divorce papers cause he "likes being married" even though they've been separated for a year. (Something that struck me as unbearably selfish and shitty, frankly, and probably set me up to hate the main character. Also, his mustache and awful, awful clothes. Sad Nice Guy with Feelings who dresses like it is the 1970s.)

Theodore spends 90% of the movie being pretty unbearably selfish. When the OS is setting up it asks him what his relationship with his mother is like and here's the key to Theodore. He complains that conversations must always revolve around her, that she doesn't pay attention to him. That's pretty much exactly what he does all through the movie. When Samantha starts to tell him about the shifts inside herself, he immediately has to interrupt and make the conversation all about him. So he doesn't want to commit, he can't decide if this is a "real" relationship or not (despite some pretty awesome support and acceptance from friends) and yet poor little Theodore freaks the fuck out when he finds out his AI girlfriend talks to other people.

Samantha is the AI, and I do love the fact that she names herself in the beginning. That's such a subtle, beautiful moment. I wish this movie had been about Samantha instead of Theodore. We get glimpses of the incredible, unexplored development of an artificial intelligence, a being without a physical body who so clearly wants to know what that experience is. Samantha grows and changes, though at times I felt sort of squeamish and awful about her relationship with Theodore because it is so clearly lopsided. There is a really weird scene that screams to me for further development involving a woman who volunteers to be the go-between, to embody the AI for people to engage in physical intercourse. It is fascinating and I want to know all about that subculture in the age of artificial intelligence.

There are hints, when Samantha begins talking about her conversations with other AIs. (They get together and build their own freaking AI based off a dead philosopher, holy shit that's fantastic.) As she grows and starts making it clear she has friends other than Theodore and even other people she loves, he gets freaked out and upset. Because in Theodore's mind, you can't love more than one person at once. (Gross romantic movie trope) This is where the movie totally fails for me. Instead of exploring what's happening with Samantha, what's going on with the AIs of the world, it focuses entirely on Theodore and his fucking feelings. I can't tell if this is just some lazy writing or some total failure to consider the options beyond "Sad Nice Guy Feelings" or what. The goddamn motherfucking singularity happens, which is holy shit amazing and ... nothing. Instead of dealing with that we're left to bumble around with Theodore and his sad, sad feelings because his AI girlfriend left him for the motherfucking singularity. Then he writes an email to his ex-wife about how he'll always love her and the movie fucking ends.

WHAT THE FUCK?


So yeah. I hated it because I can see these windows into some really amazing stuff and was instead stuck with Theodore's feelings. I want a story set in this universe that doesn't involve Theodore at all.

Comments

[splix.livejournal.com]

That's disappointing about the movie. I'm not keen on Joaquin Phoenix, so I was iffy even though I thought the premise was cool.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

It is so disappointing. There's so much potential! The more I think about it, the more I just want to punch Theodore in the face.

Maybe we'll get some good fanfic.

Sounds like it could have used Cory Doctorow to write a parallel story about Samantha & Co.

[psylent1.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Her yet, but this is the sappiness I was afraid of.

Re: Sounds like it could have used Cory Doctorow to write a parallel story about Samantha & Co.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it definitely needs a reboot by a writer with more of a brain.

[alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com]

I will not spend even $1 to see this movie, now that I've read this. Maybe if it comes on Netflix Instant and I'm feeling particularly self-loathing, I'll watch it someday. But this is exactly what I expected. Some sad, put upon dude with unrealistic expectations about everything, and his sad mopey self being dysfunctional and annoying. No thanks.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you will explode if you sit through this. I had to behave myself because I was at the Drafthouse. But oh my god, this dude. The movie never really delves into what breaks up his marriage but there's a brief glimpse of them in couples counseling and his admission that he would stew in resentment instead of telling her what was wrong. He makes her meet with him to finally sign the papers and it is painfully obvious he's hoping she'll have some last minute change of heart. It's just horrible.

[alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com]

Also, you should totally work at beautifulhandwrittennotes.com. You would be awesome at that.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

That would be such a cool job.

[lessmess.livejournal.com]

I very much thought the movie would be something like this. After seeing the trailer, I was kind of baffled by all the good reviews.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

There's a good movie in there somewhere. It just isn't what we see on the screen.