Box office
Her grossed $258,000 in six theaters during its opening weekend, averaging $43,000 per theater.[49] The film earned over $3 million while on limited release, before expanding to a wide release of 1,729 theaters on January 10, 2014.[50] On its first weekend of wide release the film took in $5.35 million.[51] The film grossed $25.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $21.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $47.4 million.[2]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 288 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Sweet, soulful, and smart, Spike Jonze's Her uses its just-barely-sci-fi scenario to impart wryly funny wisdom about the state of modern human relationships."[52] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 91 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[53] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[54]
Rolling Stone's Peter Travers awarded the film three and a half stars out of four and particularly praised Johansson's performance, stating that she "speaks Samantha in tones sweet, sexy, caring, manipulative and scary" and that her "vocal tour de force is award-worthy". He also went on to call Jonze "a visionary".[55] Richard Corliss of Time applauded Phoenix's performance, comparing his role to Sandra Bullock's in Gravity and Robert Redford's in All Is Lost: "Phoenix must communicate his movie's meaning and feelings virtually on his own. That he does, with subtle grace and depth. [...] Phoenix shows us what it's like when a mourning heart comes alive—because he loves Her." Corliss cited HAL 9000 and S1m0ne as cinematic predecessors to Her and praised Johansson, calling her performance "seductive and winning".[8] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a probing, inquisitive work of a very high order", although he expressed disappointment that the ending is more conventional than the rest of the film. McCarthy examined the premise of the story and suggested that the film's central virtual relationship was better than Ryan Gosling's character's relationship with a sex doll in Lars and the Real Girl. McCarthy compares the "tender" and "vulnerable" performance of Phoenix to his "fearsome" performance in The Master. He also praised Jonze's writing for its insights into what people want out of love and relationships, as well as the acting performances that "[make] it all feel spontaneous and urgent."[56]
Richard Roeper said that the film was "one of the more original, hilarious and even heartbreaking stories of the year" and called Phoenix "perfectly cast".[57] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times named it "at once a brilliant conceptual gag and a deeply sincere romance."[58] Claudia Puig of USA Today called the performance of Phoenix and Johansson "sensational" and "pitch-perfect", respectively. She further praised the film for being "inventive, intimate and wryly funny".[59] Scott Mendelson of Forbes called Her "a creative and empathetic gem of a movie", praising Johansson's "marvelous vocal performance" and the supporting performances of Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, and Amy Adams.[60] Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail said that the film was "gentle and weird", praised its humor, and opined that it was more similar to Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York than Jonze's Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. However, Lacey also stated that Phoenix's performance was "authentically vulnerable", but that "his emotionally arrested development also begins to weigh the film down."[61]
Conversely, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle criticized the story, pacing, and Phoenix's character. He also opined that the film was "a lot more interesting to think about than watch."[62] J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, praising the performances of Phoenix and Johansson, but also criticizing Phoenix's character, calling him an "idiot". He also criticized the lack of realism in the relationship between Phoenix and Johansson's characters.[63] Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice opined that Jonze was "so entranced with his central conceit that he can barely move beyond it", and criticized the dialogue as being "premeditated". However, she also praised Johannson's performance, calling it "the movie's saving grace" and stating that Her "isn't just unimaginable without Johansson—it might have been unbearable without her."[64]
Top ten lists
Her was listed on many critics' top ten lists.[65]
- 1st – David Edelstein, Vulture
- 1st – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
- 1st – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
- 1st – Caryn James, Indiewire[66]
- 1st – Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
- 1st – A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club
- 1st – Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast
- 1st – Drew McWeeny, HitFix
- 1st – Scott Foundas, Variety
- 1st – Genevieve Koski, Scott Tobias, & Nathan Rabin, The Dissolve
- 1st – Connie Ogle & Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
- 1st – Kimberly Jones, Marjorie Baumgarten, & Mark Savlov, Austin Chronicle
- 2nd – Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
- 2nd – Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
- 2nd – Peter Knegt, Indiewire
- 2nd – Kyle Smith, New York Post
- 2nd – Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
- 2nd – Matt Singer, The Dissolve
- 2nd – Tom Brook, BBC
- 2nd – Amy Nicholson, The Village Voice
- 2nd – Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly
- 3rd – Keith Phipps & Tasha Robinson, The Dissolve
- 3rd – Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, The A.V. Club
- 3rd – Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
- 3rd – Rafer Guzmán, Newsday
- 4th – Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
- 4th – Nigel M. Smith, Indiewire[67]
- 4th – Film School Rejects
- 4th – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
- 4th – Bob Mondello, NPR
- 4th – Richard Corliss, Time
- 5th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- 5th – Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
- 5th – Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
- 5th – Lisa Schwarzbaum, BBC
- 5th – Peter Debruge, Variety
- 6th – James Berardinelli, Reelviews
- 6th – Sasha Stone, Awards Daily
- 6th – Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
- 7th – Anne Thompson, Indiewire
- 7th – Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
- 7th – Katey Rich, Vanity Fair
- 7th – David Ansen, The Village Voice[68]
- 9th – Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
- 9th – Gregory Ellwood, HitFix
- 9th – Justin Chang, Variety
- 10th – Noel Murray, The Dissolve
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically, unranked) – Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Carrie Rickey, CarrieRickey.com
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically, unranked) – Stephen Whitty, The Star-Ledger
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Dana Stevens, Slate
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Joe Williams & Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Best of 2013 (listed alphabetically, unranked) – David Denby, The New Yorker
- Best of 2013 (listed alphabetically, unranked) – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
- Best of 2013 (listed alphabetically, unranked) – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Accolades
Her has earned various awards and nominations, with particular praise for Jonze's screenplay. At the Academy Awards, the film was nominated in five categories, including Best Picture, with Jonze winning for Best Original Screenplay.[69][36] At the 71st Golden Globe Awards, the film garnered three nominations, going on to win Best Screenplay for Jonze.[70] Jonze was also awarded the Best Original Screenplay Award from the Writers Guild of America[71] and at the 19th Critics' Choice Awards.[72] The film also won Best Fantasy Film, Best Supporting Actress for Johansson, and Best Writing for Jonze at the 40th Saturn Awards.[73] Her also won Best Film and Best Director for Jonze at the National Board of Review Awards,[74] and the American Film Institute included the film in its list of the top ten films of 2013.[75]
