Serious question right now, guys: If you had the world's first artificially intelligent operating system, and it sounded exactly like Scarlett Johansson, was named Samantha, and asked you things like "how would you touch me right now?" would you fall in love with it? That's exactly the dilemma that Joaquin Phoenix faces in Spike Jonze's new film Her, in which he plays an anti-social writer named Ted. He's recently divorced his wife (Rooney Mara), and he purchases Samantha because he's lonely—even though his friend Amy (Amy Adams) is totally in love with him (at least, it seems that way from this trailer). In other words, it is definitely not a movie about Ann Veal from Arrested Development.
Over time, Ted and Samantha grow closer, and he eventually realizes he's in love with her. Samantha, miraculously, loves him too, even though she is still a computer that can be unplugged and/or rebooted. We're going to go out on a limb here and say there's no Pinocchio-inspired ending to this movie, though, so it's probably wise not to root for these two crazy kids just yet.
When you think about it, this movie could be seen as a sort of commentary about all those films where a guy is taught to love by some wacky, manic-pixie dream girl who's perfect for him and everything he didn't know he was looking for. In Her, Samantha is the only one perfect for Ted, but that's because she's a machine that was programmed to be, and she focuses only on his needs. She's not real, literally. The only way Ted can move on with his life is if he realizes this.
You can check out the trailer above. Her is set to be releated nationwide on November 20th.
[via Deadline]
