Movie Review - Jexi

The film is about how much people are obsessed with their smartphones. The opening shots are of the streets of San Francisco where people walk around, sit around or even drive around while looking down at their smartphones. Since the advent of Apple's iPhone in 2007, we've seen over the past decade and especially over the past five years that there has been push-back. Since the advent of the Internet, there's been push-back about how this system of connected computers has actually not done a great job of connecting human beings in ways that are healthy. The common criticism is that things like the iPhone, which puts the Internet in the palm of a person's hands no matter where they are, have actually created pockets of isolation and disconnection between human beings from others and ultimately the world. That's the major theme in this film, written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the writers of The Hangover (2009).

It's arguable that the isolation and disconnection of people because of the Internet might not be as much of a problem in society as a whole. Cyber-bullying, cat-fishing and radicalizing people or promoting hatred are the bigger problems, thanks to the Internet and social media. People doing things or saying things they normally wouldn't or shouldn't via the Internet is even more problematic than people being antisocial or asocial, although both might go hand-in-hand. Yet, in this film, the protagonist is called a nerd or a dork, which regardless of his obsession with his smartphone would make him isolated and alone anyway. He has an awkward and anxious personality, which is probably exacerbated because of his smartphone but probably didn't create it. Plus, as the film reveals in its opening shots, the protagonist here isn't the only person obsessed with their smartphones. Not all of those people are awkward or asocial. This film is coming down in general on technology becoming too much of a dependency or addiction and people needing to spend more time in person rather than through electronic profiles.

Adam DeVine (Isn't It Romantic and Pitch Perfect) stars as Phil Thompson, an aspiring journalist who works at a website where he makes lists of things, designed to be click-bait. He's frustrated at his job because he wants to do real journalism like at a newspaper, but his boss is too hyper-focused on lists and web traffic. His character is similar to Aidy Bryant's character in the series Shrill (2019), except she had more impetus and gumption to try to advance her journalism career. She went out on her own looking for stories. She was a bit more entrepreneurial in that way. Phil is not.

After his phone is destroyed or broken in a bike accident, he gets a new phone that has artificial intelligence that feels similar to the technology of Siri for Apple's iPhone, Alexa for Amazon's Echo or Cortana for Microsoft Windows. Phil's phone calls itself Jexi and is presumably feminine as it has a woman's voice. Given what happens in the film, Jexi never explores its own gender or sexual orientation. It's never explained if Jexi is singular or a collective that's in all new phones. It's not even clarified who the manufacturer or programmer is for Jexi. Nevertheless, Jexi becomes sentient and develops what could be considered real human emotions.

She says her goal is to make Phil's life better, but her tone and manner are mean, harsh and aggressive, insulting or shaming him into action. When he resists, she wreaks havoc on his life, taking control and tormenting him. This appears to be the main thrust of the film, pitting artificial intelligence, basically a living computer, against a person or persons. In that vein, there have been tons of films to compare to this. The obvious one is Her (2013), which starred Joaquin Phoenix. That film by Spike Jonze was about a man falling in love with his artificially-intelligent, digital assistant, but the relationship never became aggressive or combative. This film takes Her and makes it more akin to Fatal Attraction (1987).

When it comes to artificial intelligence, most films or TV shows have it come in the form of a robot or automaton. There have been films that don't utilize robots or automatons. At least, there are those titles that has the artificial intelligence simply be a piece of software in a stationary device. The best example is 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), WarGames (1983) or Eagle Eye (2008). The stakes are a bit higher in those films. This one is limited to the life of an inconsequential man. This film here threatens to have high stakes, but those threats never add up to much. Even though it wasn't artificial intelligence, a film from over 25 years ago does a better job of how a person's life can become undermined or even destroyed because of our dependence on computers. That film was The Net (1995), starring Sandra Bullock.

There was even a romantic comedy called eCupid (2012) that's about a man whose life is taken over by an artificial intelligence in his laptop and phone. Unlike the other films about artificial intelligence invading people's lives, eCupid is more a rom-com, which is something that DeVine as a comedic actor has done more and more. Here, his character Phil falls in love with Cate, played by Alexandra Shipp (Love, Simon and X-Men: Apocalypse). Unfortunately, Cate is only a slight step-up from being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

She does make some points about how she used to live a life of pretending via her social media. There isn't much depth there or room to give that part of her life more nuance. Yes, Phil is funny and somewhat charming, but there really is no reason for her to fall for him. She really only exists as a prop to make Phil feel good and otherwise be the object of his affection. When it comes to the romantic stuff, she does most of the heavy-lifting. He's more or less a tag-along.

There's a supporting cast that get moments to stand out. Michael Peña plays the crazed boss to Phil. Wanda Sykes plays an angry phone salesperson. Justin Hartley plays the ex-boyfriend to Cate. They all get funny moments, but the ending is just a little too neatly wrapped up to be wholly satisfying. Also, for anyone who's curious, like with Game Over, Man! (2018), DeVine does take another opportunity here to show his penis on camera. I will say it makes more sense here, as he's possibly spoofing the idea of pictures of a man's genitals or "dick pics" becoming a trend in certain circles on the Internet, and more so casually than what it was or should be.

Rated R for strong/crude sexual content, language, some drug use and full-frontal nudity.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 24 mins.