A comedy about what can happen when you love your phone more than anything else in your life.
I’m not a huge fan of Adam Devine (“Workaholics”) or the type of comedy he usually plays in, so I was apprehensive about this movie. I liked it almost right off the bat despite the foul language because of the fun plot. Then it happened. The writers went off the deep end. How they managed to keep the movie going for an entire eighty-four minutes is beyond me, but I certainly understand how the film never made it to the big screen. If you decide to see this movie, make sure to rent it on Redbox for less than two bucks or, better yet, wait until it’s streaming for free.
Adam plays loser Phil, whose parents handed him a phone every time they fought in front of them, which was excessive, to say the least, which started an obsession with electronics. Of course, this directly corresponds to many people as so many of them stare at their phones now more than their computer screens, so his level of phone love isn’t out of the realm of reality. The movie struck another good chord when he got a new phone, after breaking his older phone by not looking at his surroundings, and it overtook his life. The phone – Jexi – had a foul mouth too, but in a funny, sassy way, as it forces Phil to eat better, talk to girls, make friends, and look for a better job. Sounds like a fun plot, right? And it so is! I just wish the writers had a high enough IQ to have at least one line in the show, not sponsor a swear word.
The movie still has potential at this point, so I kept on watching even when Wanda Skyes’ poorly written part failed as did the love connect between Phil and new girl Cate (Alexandra Shipp). From there, it was touch and go. Phil tries to return his phone and finds out it now owns him. It has all of his passwords, bank account information, and phone numbers. Phil is at the will of technology, and the phone is winning. Jexi goes the way of horror sci-fi movies like “I, Robot” but worse as Jexi houses enough humanity to fall into a jealous rage when Cate takes Phil away for a single night. I can’t even begin to explain just how creepy the movie gets after that point. Any interest I had in the film was gone, thankfully, the movie is not even an hour and a half, so I didn’t have to watch much longer. You can still save yourself and find a different film.
From the writers of “Bad Moms” and “The Hangover,” I was not in the least surprised by the maturity level of “Jexi.” Jon Lucas and Scott Moore seem to have a solid fan base and can certainly handle yet another reviewer bashing their work. What annoys me, though, is they had such a clever plot with so much room for potential, and they had to go and ruin it instead of investing a little more time and some actual creativity. If you can handle the vulgarity, the movie has some seriously epic laughs, so it’s not without merit, but the twist was twisty in all the wrong ways. Give this plot to a different set of writers with a better line up, and we could have some gold. The movie has a decent cast, including Rose Byrne, Michael Peña, Kid Cudi, and Justin Hartley.
Now available on Digital and on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital), DVD, and On-Demand January 14th
