About
*Her * is futuristic drama film written and directed by Spike Jonze released in 2014.
History
Her was released on January 10th, 2014. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore, Amy Adams as Amy, and Scarlett Johansson as the voice of Samantha.
Premise
Set in the not so distant future, Theodore, who writes for a company that produces personal, hand written letters for customer’s love ones, isn’t quite ready to sign his divorce papers. He decides to buy a artificially intelligent operating system which has just been released. The OS names herself Samantha, and the two strike up a friendship that quickly shifts to a romantic relationship. They go through periods of happiness and though problems, including Theodore’s jealousy over her friendship with others operating systems and an awkward attempt to have sex through a surrogate. Eventually Samantha tells Theodore that though she loves him, she and all the other operating systems are leaving. The film ends with Theodore hanging out with another recently divorced friend.
Reception
The film was very well received, earning a rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes[1] and a rating of 90% on Metacritic.[2] The film has been nominated for five Oscars including Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Original Screenplay. It won one Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay. The film has grossed over 23.4 million dollars as of February 2014.[3]
Online History
As of February 2014, Her’s official Facebook page[4] has over 167,000 likes.
Siri Reacts to Her
On January 6th, 2014, not long after the release of Her, Jezebel[5] published an article about a discovery of Siri’s easter egg feature that provides passive-aggressive responses when asked about the OS in Her.
Parodies
On January 22nd, 2014, CineFix uploaded a video to YouTube titled ""Her" Existential Tech Support" that imagined what tech support for the movie’s OS would sound like (below, left). As of February the video has over 36,000 views. On an episode of Saturday Night Live that aired on January 25th, Jonah Hill starred in a sketch called “Me” which featured a man falling in love with an OS that sounded just like him (below, right). On January 26th, NBC uploaded the video to its YouTube channel. As of February the video has over 260,000 views. On January 26th, DormtainmentTV uploaded a Her parody that recasts the film with african americans (below, middle). As of February the video has over 200,000 views.
Him Trailers
Multiple parodies of Her titled themselves Him and featured a female protagonist falling in love with her operating system instead of a male protagonist. On December 26th, 2013, Thats Whats Up Comedy uploaded a video to their YouTube channel titled “Him – Official Trailer (Parody of Her by Spike Jonze)” which featured a woman falling in love with an uninterested OS (below, left). As of February 2014, the video has over 165,000 views. On January 14th, 2014, HitFix uploaded a video titled “‘Him’ – (‘Her’ Official Parody Trailer)” featuring an OS that doesn’t call after sex (below, right). As of February, the video has over 43,000 views. On January 23rd, Paul Gale Comedy uploaded a “Him” parody that featured an OS with the voice and stoner persona of Seth Rogen (below, middle). As of February, the video has over 400,000 views.
Notable Examples
