This is a comedy with too much of a romantic twist thrown in. Kent, the hero of our story, gets replaced at work by a friendly android, and things take a turn for the worse when the mechanical man attracts the attention of his lovely coworker. The android's artificial nature isn't really played up in the film since
its budget was too limited for any sight gags, but does provide a few laughs with its sometimes witty dialogue. Unfortunately the story squanders much of its potential by not putting a robotic spin on annoying office politics, like those satirized so well in Office Space and The Office.
The film loses steam as Kent desperately tries to find a way to sabotage the android to get him out of the picture, which boils down to the notion that only humans are truly creative. After that, there's an agonizingly long section where the android teaches Kent how to loosen up and become more human, which didn't provide any laughs at all. I did watch all of its 1 hour and 22 minute running time, which was long enough for the director to end it with a textbook movie cliche. Bad director, bad!
This review is a repost from my website: www.plasticpals.com
December 4, 2011
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