Jexi Blu-ray Review

"Jexi" is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and CBS Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. This digitally shot feature displays the vibrant city of San Francisco with impressive clarity and a rich color palette. The transfer excels in outdoor scenes, featuring substantial depth of field and excellent detail levels. Primary colors are particularly stunning, enhancing the visual appeal of San Francisco's diverse architecture, blue skies, and lush greenery. The film avoids excessive color grading, ensuring a natural and clean presentation devoid of weird lighting choices. Notably, even in lower-lit scenes such as night skyline views and indoor nightclub sequences, colors remain well-balanced with neon lights exhibiting a fantastic glow.

Detail levels are commendable throughout the film. Fine details such as individual hairs, facial pores, and wardrobe textures are vividly rendered, contributing to a lifelike viewing experience. The presentation also manages to maintain high fidelity in wider city shots, showcasing the array of skyscrapers and floral elements without succumbing to flatness. Inside the smartphone, software interfaces are clearly visible through the glass casing, further demonstrating the transfer's meticulous attention to detail. Black levels are suitably deep and inky without crush, and skin tones appear natural across varying lighting conditions. Importantly, the transfer is free from major technical issues like banding, aliasing, or video noise, contributing to a seamless and immersive viewing experience.

Overall, "Jexi" on Blu-ray offers a sharp and well-detailed visual presentation that effectively harnesses the charm of San Francisco's settings. The clarity and precision in detail ensure that every scene, whether indoors or outdoors, is presented with visual richness and stability. Although a minor glitch was encountered during the special features playback, it doesn't detract significantly from the overall quality of the video presentation.

"Jexi" features a robust DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that effectively captures the film's varied soundscapes. While much of the film is set in intimate, smaller-scale environments where the surround activity may be somewhat subdued, there are several outdoor scenes, such as a kickball event Phil attends with his new co-worker friends, where the immersive qualities of the soundtrack are more pronounced. Dialogue, sound effects, and score are rendered clearly and cleanly, ensuring a problem-free listening experience.

The lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track underscores the film's rom-com nature without relying on explosive sound effects typical of action films. Instead, it excels in creating a rich atmospheric experience, fully immersing listeners in various urban settings. Exterior shots in the city are particularly vibrant, capturing diverse ambient noises like vehicles passing by, street chatter, birds, and urban restaurant sounds. Office scenes are equally detailed, featuring an abundance of computer clicks, keyboard typing, and other typical office noises, while the digitized voice of Jexi maintains an appropriate synthetic texture. Music cues deliver a satisfying low-end bass rumble, and dialogue remains consistently clean and comprehensible throughout.

The bonus features of the "Jexi" Blu-ray disc provide an engaging and insightful look into various aspects of the film's creation, incorporating interviews with cast and crew, production design details, and thematic explorations. Highlights include "Jexi: Making Life Better," which delves into the film's creation, featuring comprehensive interviews and behind-the-scenes segments. "Unboxing Jexi" offers a closer look at the phone's design and software. "Filming in Fog City" captures the San Francisco shooting experience, while "Tech Bros" discusses the real-life inspiration for tech-savvy characters. "Phone Fixation" humorously examines cast and crew cell phone habits.

Extras included in this disc:

• Jexi: Making Life Better: Cast and crew interviews exploring the making of the film, its characters, story origins, and technology.
• Unboxing Jexi: Focus on phone design, software, and voice of Jexi.
• Filming in Fog City: Insights into shooting in San Francisco.
• Tech Bros: Exploration of Silicon Valley tech culture.
• Phone Fixation: Discussion on personal phone usage by cast and crew.

"Jexi" presents an amusing narrative that explores the relationship between Phil (Adam DeVine), a socially awkward individual attached to his smartphone, and his AI assistant, Jexi (voiced by Rose Byrne). The film is set in a vibrant San Francisco backdrop, where Phil’s reliance on technology is both comically exaggerated and eerily prescient. After a mishap causes him to upgrade to a new phone equipped with Jexi, he soon finds himself under its aggressive mentorship. Jexi’s behavior ranges from acerbic insults to proactive life coaching, nudging Phil towards personal growth and social courage, including his romantic pursuit of Cate (Alexandra Shipp).

While "Jexi" bears similarities to Spike Jonze’s "Her," it diverges into more simplistic and juvenile territory. The script often resorts to bawdy humor and predictable plot routes, yet it manages to elicit genuine laughter through its outlandish scenarios and sharp dialogues. The ensemble cast contributes significantly to the film's charm. Ron Funches and Charlyne Yi provide light-hearted moments as Phil’s co-workers, while Michael Pena adds a layer of tension as Phil’s overbearing boss. DeVine’s performance brings an endearing quality to Phil, despite his geeky disposition. Rose Byrne’s voice acting shines with dry wit, delivering perfectly timed comedic punches, albeit not every joke hits the mark.

Overall, "Jexi" doesn’t offer the depth or cleverness of higher-concept films; instead, it embraces its role as an entertaining, if somewhat predictable, comedy. The interactions between Phil and Jexi remain at the heart of this lighthearted narrative, punctuated by scenic shots of San Francisco that further enhance the visual appeal of the film. While it may not redefine the genre, "Jexi" provides a steady stream of laughs through its absurd premise and committed performances.

"Jexi" manages to carve a niche for itself in the comedy genre, despite its pedestrian script and occasional misfires. The film combines elements of satire and absurdity with mixed success. Viewers can expect humor that is juvenile yet imbued with a certain charm that captivates. This isn't the kind of comedy that revolutionizes the genre, but it has enough laugh-out-loud moments courtesy of its screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who previously helmed hits like The Hangover and Bad Moms. The witty banter between Adam DeVine and the titular AI, voiced by Rose Byrne, stands out, providing several chuckles even though many of the jokes feel repetitive.

The Blu Ray release of "Jexi" does not disappoint on the technical front. The video quality is crisp and vibrant, making full use of high-definition capabilities to offer an engaging and visually appealing experience. Colors are well-balanced and detailed, maintaining clarity throughout different scenes. Audio quality is equally commendable, with clear dialogue and a well-mixed soundtrack enhancing the overall viewing experience. Additional content includes insightful interviews with the cast and crew, offering a deeper dive into the behind-the-scenes workings of the film.

In conclusion, I hadn't really heard much about "Jexi" before watching it, and I was kind of surprised in doing some research after I watched it that it had failed so spectacularly at the box office and with the critical masses. This is certainly no masterpiece, but it made me laugh more consistently than some much higher-profile supposed comedies over the past few months have. If you're a fan of the co-writer and co-directors' previous films "The Hangover" and/or "Bad Moms," you're probably going to be in tune enough with the comedic sensibility here to enjoy "Jexi" despite its flaws. Fans of the cast may consider this an agreeable enough time passer as well, and for those who are considering a purchase, technical merits are solid. "Jexi" is a childish and goofy film that has an unusual charm that works well for itself. Despite its inane and juvenile script and the fact that most of the jokes are redundant and miss the mark, there is something uniquely fun about "Jexi." Both the video and audio presentations are good and the many interviews with the cast and crew are enjoyable. Worth a look.