REVIEW: Joaquin Pheonix in ‘Her’

In the film Her, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) develops an unlikely relationship with his newly automated system Samantha (voice by Scarlett Johansson). We see that Theodore lives an normal life, he’s been through a rough break up, he goes to work, checks email, plays video games, and is lonely. Samantha, is just like most humans. She feels sympathy and emotions which makes her seem like a real human being.

It’s fascinating to see how interactive humans are with their electronic devices. Theodore starts to fall in love with Samantha and I particularly started to feel the emotions that Theodore was feeling. Especially with Samantha’s realistic voice we almost feel empathy. Some people think it’s weird to have a computer human relationship, but who are we to judge? We see people attached to their phones every day in our daily lives. It is very odd, but I think that’s the message the movie was trying to get out. The future perspective of human loneliness and relating to emotional intimacy.

The biggest turn in the movie is when Theodore’s ex Catherine (Rooney Mara) tells him Samantha is not a “real person”. She spoke to Theodore as if he was not aware, but he is lost and confused and Samantha says in one part of the movie to Theodore “We’re all made of matter and, I don’t know it makes feel like we’re both under the same blanket“. She explains that she doesn’t need a body, she starts to grow in a way that humans do.

I don’t want to ruin the movie for those who haven’t seen it quite yet, but I definitely recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a good heartfelt romance movie. Phoenix did a phenomenal job portraying Theodore, and the screenplay done by Jonze was absolutely remarkable.

Check out the trailer below, and if you haven’t seen it yet, go check out in theaters!