I think a law should
be passed in the state of Texas that prohibits people from seeing movies in
public during the height of allergy season. And yes, I truly believe that this is a far
more important issue than women’s rights, hate crimes, or even gun racks! There is nothing that can ruin a date night at the movies faster than some scrub sitting next to you sneezing
repeatedly and building a collection of snot rags while you’re trying to put the moves on your woman .Was I the guy putting the moves on his woman? No! I
was the scrub that was sneezing repeatedly, and I felt awful for everyone that happened
to be around me; especially the poor guy who sat on the other side of me. At
one point during the movie one of my snot rags fell on his seat and I spent the
entire time trying to slyly pick it up without him noticing or thinking that I
was trying to pick his pocket.
I realize I should’ve done the right thing and stayed at
home but I had been looking forward to Spike Jonze’s weird take on love for a
while and if that meant I could no longer play the role of Bubble Boy, so be
it! Plus when you have weirdos teaming up with other weirdos, something fun is
always bound to happen. Jonze was able to convince Joaquin Phoenix to continue
his Hollywood comeback since his sabbatical on Mars or whatever planet he went
to that made him think he could rap is apparently over. Say what you want about
this introverted recluse, he can certainly act, and I believe he was perfect
for this role. I cant think of many actors that could play the role of Theodore
Twombly and not have their natural personality get in the way. I love Denzel
but we have been exposed to so much of him off screen that you start to easily
see his personality bleed into his characters and ultimately all you end up
seeing is just Denzel reciting lines and
being cool. I’d say the say about Tom Cruise but you can never really trust
aliens so who knows what his real personality is like.
The point I’m trying to make is that for this story to work,
you truly had to believe that Phoenix would really feel more
comfortable being in a relationship with an operating system versus that of an
actual person. And yes, you read that correctly; in continuing with what has
become the norm for Jonze, he has found yet another way to bring his unique and
odd view of the world to the masses. I will
never forget his awesome choreographed dance for the otherwise forgettable Fatboy
Slim song Praise You.
In his latest effort, you are introduced to Theodore(Phoenix), a
greeting card writer who is wandering through life basically alone ever since
his breakup with his wife Rooney Mara. He goes to work, barely talks to anyone,
and his only true interaction is with his computer that allows him to access
everything he could possibly want. He has a few interactions here and there
with his neighbor Amy Adams and her husband but for the most part, he’s stuck
in a rut and left to video games and random online gossip stories to help him
pass the time. This is until the day he decides to buy the latest operating
system that has just been made available to the public. It is an artificial intelligence
OS that is designed to fit around your personality and cater to your specific
needs. It has its own personality and you can also select the gender you want. Since
it is a new OS, it is also new to the world and reacts to things that we
consider normal with the newness and excitement that Theodore is hopelessly attracted to.
Think about it, it’s a disease free woman of age that has no
baggage from previous relationships and her only care in the world is to
connect with you and make your life better. I’d be all over her (no pun
intended) too; especially since she sounds like Scarlett Johansson. The voice
is Scarjo’s by the way and she turns in an awesome vocal performance as
Samantha, his OS. She brings her natural energy and sexiness to the character and
that helps make the love scene between them more believable than awkward. But
believe me, it is awkward! The good thing is, Jonze sets the stage for this
with another odd sex scene that takes place between Jonze and Kristin Wiig, in
what is easily the funniest scene in the movie.
Without Phoenix’s naturally weird
disposition, Jonze’s unique eye, Scarjo’s presence, and the great score provided
by Owen Pallet and Arcade Fire; you were probably going to be stuck watching
one the worst unintentionally funny romantic comedies of all time. But instead
what you ended up with was one of the most unique love stories you’ll ever see;
and this is coming from someone who thought that Ryan Gosling’s Lars and the Real Girl could never be beaten in that category.
I rate this movie as FRESH and suggest that you see it; if
for nothing else than to see the futuristic high waisted pants everyone wears.
I have a buddy who has a girlfriend that’s already rocking these, I guess she’s
ahead of her time.
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