When I saw Robert Sheckley's name in the credits, I knew right away what I was in for. And that's the best thing about Robots: it's the best cinematic rendition so far of Sheckley's unique mix of SF and satire.
To be sure, that mix may not be to everyone's taste. The main reason is likely to be historical. The story The Robot Who Looked Like Me, upon which the movie Robots is based, dates back to 1978, and is bound to show its age a bit. On the other hand, the basic concept remains fresh and amusing: robot stand-ins being used for devious purposes, thereby bringing out the worst in weak personalities.
The execution isn't perfect. Some gags are side-splitting, others barely worth a giggle. The relationship between the two leads follows an obvious but not entirely believable trajectory. And yet, the movie overall achieves what it sets out to do. It's both funny and thought-provoking, suggesting ways of thinking about 'AI' that may not have occurred to us even as the technology is being deployed around us.
The acting is solid. Shailene Woodley and British comedian Jack Whitehall both do a good job in their double roles - triple, in the case of Woodley). Their 'real' personalities are suitably loathsome and venal. The robot personalities are convincingly genteel and obsequious. And Woodley's bit as a sex-toy version of herself is hilarious.
But what I liked most was that old lunatic feel of Sheckley's writing. He's not the best-remembered author of the SF golden age, perhaps because he took a very different approach. I haven't pulled any of his books off my shelf for many years, but certain passages, certain zany situations, still ring in my mind. It's great to see this kind of material rediscovered and respectfully adapted. I wish Hollywood would get busy adapting more SF classics works for 21st-Century audiences.
(FYI: previous Sheckley adaptations have included The Tenth Victim - La Decima VIttima, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress, and Freejack, starring Mick Jagger. Not great films, but stylish fun.)
