Synopsis
Two colleagues at a revolutionary research lab design technology to improve and perfect romantic relationships. As their work progresses, their discoveries become more profound.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Léa SeydouxZoe
- Ewan McGregorCole
- Rashida JonesEmma
- Theo JamesAsh
- Matthew Gray GublerSkinny Guy
- Miranda OttoThe Designer
- Christina AguileraJewels
- Helen JohnsMuriel Théroux
- Kyle GatehouseAverage Guy
- Sarah LevesqueUncomfortable Woman
Recommendations
- 70
The Hollywood Reporter
A human/robot love story that is less deeply imaginative than Spike Jonze's Her and less heartbreaking than Doremus' own Like Crazy, the picture is nevertheless a beautifully acted, affecting drama that teases some questions society may need to answer sooner than we expect. - 60
Screen Daily
Both McGregor, close cropped, and Seydoux, in retro bangs, give tender performances, although there’s not much that’s new in the love story once you push the robotics aside. Tech-heads who rush to Zoe may leave the theater feeling under-charged. - 50
Variety
Zoe, like Cole, ties itself up in a lot of high-minded hand-wringing, and the result is that the movie, though it’s not badly told, fails to grip you. - 50
Slant Magazine
Drake Doremus's compositions seem to be motivated by the idea that there’s no more profound image than sunlight reflecting off one-half of a character’s face. - 50
Entertainment Weekly
An unimaginative waste of science-fiction potential. - 42
The A.V. Club
Wrestling with the intrinsic creepiness of the premise would involve some social commentary, self-awareness, and honest-to-God storytelling, and that’s not Doremus’ bag. - 40
The New York Times
In Zoe, the characters, all in their 30s at least (except for the robots, I know, but bear with me), still believe that 100-percent glitch-free everlasting love is a reasonable life goal. It’s this component, even more than the poorly realized sci-fi trappings, that finally make the movie a little insufferable. - 33
The Playlist
Though the film attempts to introduce a future laden with fascinating social implications, it maddeningly ignores them in favor of an overwrought, plodding, and inherently sexist romance.
