Directed by Ant Hines and Casper Christensen — Screenplay by Ant Hines and Casper Christensen.
Based on Robert Sheckley’s 1973 short story titled The Robot Who Looked Like Me, Ant Hines and Casper Christensen’s Robots is set in America in 2032 at a time when humanlike robots are used as servants and for labor work. The film follows Charles (played by Jack Whitehall), a womanizer, and Elaine (played by Shailene Woodley), a gold-digger, both of whom illegally make use of identical android doubles of themselves to make their lives easier so that the womanizer only has to sleep with women without having to date them (which his robot does), whereas the gold-digger can profit off the men while her robot sleeps with the men. However, when their respective robots meet, fall in love, and decide to run away together and frame their human counterparts for mass murder, Charles and Elaine must team up to clear things up and get their lives back.
Seriously, we need to talk about what happened to Shailene Woodley’s career. This is the same actress who wowed audiences in The Spectacular Now and The Fault In Our Stars. But if she continues down this recent career trajectory, she seriously could end up being remembered more for being ‘that one promising actress who was cut out of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.’ She really hasn’t been able to rise from the ashes of the Divergent series. In Robots, it genuinely feels like she must have lost a bet. Here her role is extremely underwritten, and she deserves so much better. I have no idea why she signed on to do this.
I have some idea why Jack Whitehall signed on, though. After all, this was meant to be a boundary-pushing and modern satire about technological advancements, gender stereotypes, and American politics from the perspectives of one of the producers of multiple popular Sacha Baron Cohen flicks (co-director and co-writer Ant Hines), but also one of the stars of the (by Danish standards) very popular Curb Your Enthusiasm-esque Danish comedy series known as Klovn (co-director and co-writer Casper Christensen). On paper, that would probably appeal to a popular British comedian who is trying to increase his on-screen stardom.
But this film fails with pretty much every aspect that it was meant to execute on. It isn’t a sharp satire, it doesn’t have anything original to say, it isn’t funny, its brand of comedy feels out of date, it doesn’t look cinematic whatsoever, and the predictable romantic plot development is just really boring. It brings me no pleasure to say this, but it is about as sharp and enticing as soggy leftover french fries. Unfortunately, Robots is the kind of film that completely wastes talent and time. And by talent, I’m not just talking about the principal leads. I do think that co-director and co-writer Casper Christensen is a genuinely funny man, but this project isn’t suited for his gifts and he isn’t able to translate his talent into this kind of production. What a shame.
2 out of 10
– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 