Alchemy (I) (2005)

Can an university computer scientist (Cavanagh) make a woman fall in love with his interactive computer before she succumbs to a well-known professor?

Director:

Evan Oppenheimer

Writer:

Evan Oppenheimer

Stars:

Michael Ian Black, Tom Cavanagh, Sarah Chalke

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Ian Black	...	Jerry (voice)
Tom Cavanagh	...	Mal Downey
Sarah Chalke	...	Samantha Rose
James Barbour	...	Dr. Troy Rollins
Illeana Douglas	...	KJ
Nadia Dajani	...	Jane
Logan Marshall-Green	...	Martin
Wil Horneff	...	Dave (as Will Horneff)
Celeste Holm	...	Iris
Shannon McGinnis	...	Barbara
Anna Belknap	...	Marissa
Tovah Feldshuh	...	Senior Editor
Daphne Rubin-Vega	...	Belladonna Editor
Susan Misner	...	Associate Editor
Erik Palladino	...	Groom

Storyline

Mal is a New York computer scientist about to lose his university job. He posits that a woman can fall in love with a responsive computer program as easily as with a real man. He finds a subject for the experiment, not telling her what's actually going on. She's Samantha, an actress, and a he finds a rival who calls himself Dr. Love. A women's magazine wants to report the story, but its editor changes the game, insisting that Mal dress up like "Jerry," the personality the computer creates, wear an earpiece, and spout the computer's words. Samantha plays along until her feelings for both "Jerry" and Dr. Love get serious. What's a scientist to do when his hypotheses goes awry?

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Plot Keywords:

computer | university | computer scientist | womens magazine | computer program | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Love Is...

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Black Sand Pictures, Enlightenment Productions, Alchemy Productions LLC

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening of the film shows a group of students interacting with the computer, and one girl laughs when the computer says, "The Aristocrats!" That is the punch line to a famous, dirty joke that reportedly was Johnny Carson's favorite joke and was the subject of the Penn Jillette documentary The Aristocrats.

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Crazy Credits

The disclaimer at the end of the film reads: "The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons, places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. Except Father Bogoliobov, who's available for weddings, communions, and bar mitzvahs."

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Connections

References Electric Dreams (1984)

User Reviews

Enjoyable Romantic Comedy

My wife and I both thought this was a well written enjoyable movie. The dialog was very funny and the actors did a great job with it. We did not know the lead actor Tom Cavanagh, but it is obvious he is going to be well known in the future. If you watch movies to have a good time than this is a movie for you. Judging by some movies we have seen lately, many people watch movies because they need to feel more depressed. If this movie had big names associated with it then it would have had a large gross, assuming that the big names would have done as good a job as the current actors. We see a lot of small (indy?)films with big names that get excellent reviews for horrible movies. The reviewers are obviously faking it. They should have thrown some well deserved good reviews at this one.