ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

A Fascinating Movie: Her

Updated on January 21, 2014
Loading the new OS
Loading the new OS
His only human date
His only human date

The answer is Her, a futuristic OS that learns as time goes on when interacting with humans and other computer systems.

This is what actor Joaquin Phoenix does as he installs a new intuitive and intelligent OS on his computer system. The first choice is choosing a man's or woman's voice. Once chosen, the OS loads up and chooses a name, in this case, Samantha. So Joaquin gradually falls deeply in love with Samantha's sexy voice, played by Scarlett Johansson. Except for a few scenes with Amy Adams (who falls in love with a different OS) and Rooney Mara, most of the movie is just a monologue drama for Joaquin, who manages to make it interesting.

The OS reminded me of HAL in 2001: Space Odyssey. Evolving as interaction with humans occurs but instead of the OS being nefarious and conniving, Samantha, wants to fall in love like humans, wants to have a body to experience sex and so on. But, as all this does come to pass (including a blacked out sex scene), her intellect and interests grows and the OS begins to want other things.

The film is a tad too long. By the time of the breakup near the end, I was getting bored because the ending can be spotted long before it happens. The storyline could have gone in so many directions that would make it more interesting and exciting. For instance, when Joaquin cannot connect with the OS near the end, he panics. Lots of things could have occurred from that point, but then he manages to connect and Samantha calms him. The impending breakup is almost expected. When the OS begins talking with other OS systems, more intelligent than Her, Joaquin tries not to be jealous.

I knew that somewhere, the OS would be disconnected. When it happened, I was hoping for more sinister reasons rather than just an upgrade and wanted maybe Samantha to become more of an adversary like many couples do. Maybe, taking over his computer, destroying files, in a revengeful manner. Nope. This is a love that ends amicably and they just part and go their separate ways.

One of the more interesting scenes is when Joaquin goes on a date with real woman. They really like one another and the chemistry is there. As the date goes on, you expect them to go to bed, but when she hints at it, Joaquin hedges and sends the wrong signal. Suddenly, the hot date turns nasty and she calls him "creepy". He is. His character is a lonely, once married man, that just goes to work, comes home, and talks to his OS. His imagination runs wild and in the sex scene with the OS, thank god, it turns black. The viewer only hears the sounds of sex. While I expected this, it is creepy because you know what he is actually doing.

Samantha sees the world via the handheld computer's camera that he carries with him in his shirt pocket. She longs for a body, so the OS arranges for another woman to act as a surrogate to meet with him to experience the human interaction and sex. However, he is very uncomfortable with this but goes along. The whole scene is awkward for him even though he hears the OS voice in his ear yet sees a complete stranger. Eventually, he cannot handle the idea and it ends in a disaster. That's when he begins to think that falling in love with an OS is crazy and stupid. The OS is growing more intelligent all the time, needing more, yet because Joaquin is Her first love, there is always a space for him.

The ads for the film make it appear that this is a PG-13 movie, so, I took my 15-yr. old daughter, who also wanted to see it. Well, a parent's worst nightmare happens in two sexually provocative scenes. The first is more explicit with some nudity and the other, is just sexual sounds. The first one was not even needed. The second one, was. Yes, I cringed, being unable to control the situation. Luckily, other than the two scenes, it is a PG movie.

Her is interesting, a definate 3-star movie, but not 4-star. It is a little too long and narrow in where the story goes-it is predictable. There is no real antagonist character in my opinion. Amy Adams role is just a reason to divert attention, she's just a friend. I do not think it is worthy of an Oscar since there are too many others that are superior.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)