My first impression of this movie went something along the lines of, “Ew, look at Joaquin Phoenix’s pedophile stash,” and, “These guys sitting around talking to their computers are in need of social lives.”  As the movie progressed though, I saw past Phoenix’s mustache as got caught up in his innocent blue eyes and I found myself wishing I had my own computer-generated assistant in my head.

“Her” follows Theodore, played by Phoenix, as he buys an OS1 — an artificially intelligent operating system that customizes itself for the owner. The OS1 develops in personality as it learns from its owner, and also as it surfs the Internet and absorbs information.

Theodore’s OS1 is named Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. She’s funny, keeps him organized and in his head whenever he wants. Theodore spends so much time with his operating system that he falls in love with her. I found myself blushing at a sex scene between a man and the computer voice in his head. If that doesn’t hook you enough, Kristen Wiig makes a voice-appearance as “SexyKitten,” a random woman Theodore finds on a phone-dating site who asks to be choked intimately with a cat.

Contact Kelsey Husnick at [email protected].