Wifelike

Wifelike is a company which creates robots sold to men to be obedient sexy wives. William Bradwell (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is purchasing Meredith (Elena Kampouris) to replace his late wife. He works for the company. Ironically, she was an advocate against the company.

This has the potential of an interesting sci-fi movie, but it struggles to get away from the 90's late night cable softcore porn feel. Kampouris plays an awkwardly submissive robot. There are some issues with the premise construction. It seems crazy to have a dream mode for robots. It makes no sense. I don't mind the twist in the movie, but it could be done better. I have a better twist. Meredith could be the real person under some sort of mind control. Maybe implant a chip in her brain and come at the premise from that direction. The movie is trying to deal with sentience of robots and it's a mixed bag. I want the idea to be done well. This is a second-rate attempt.

In the future, people could buy robots to be their spouse. A very sexy, good looking, obedient spouse. Jonathan Rhys character buy one of this robot called Meredith (played by Elena Kampouris) to replace his late wife.

He is a detective who work for the company that make the robots. Because there's a terrorist group that against the exploitation of these robots and trying to sabotage their AI. His job is to retrieve all the kidnapped (or freed sex slaves) robots that was ruined by the terrorist group.

To be honest the story is interesting, it has everything to be the next great sci fi movie. The mystery, the twist, and if handled correctly, packed action. But I guess this movie was made with minimum budget.

We have a company that make advance robots. But the office looks like something you see in the 90's, boring and dull. The action is cut short. They could make great scene when he tries to infiltrate the terrorist base and beat the bad guys. But the action is so-so.

Camera movement is stiff, bland cinematography, and CGI that looks like early 2000's tv shows. Some actors are underperformed. I can continue for longer.

Elena Kampouris is the only thing that worthy of your attention. Her acting is good. And the sex scene is an eye candy for sure. Despite bad things the story isn't boring and quite engaging. I like the concept of dreaming robots they make. And the twist is kind of predictable, because of too many clues scattered in the movie.

If only this movie has better budget and director. This movie can be the next big thing actually.

Basically soft core porn with a plot and a used-to-be actor, Meyers Story moves really slow and isn't thought provoking at all. Concept is good but film lacks any grit. Given the guy's job, there are some tragically missed opportunities. Could have been a really great, gritty, dark film... but the whole thing looks like it was filmed in a dentists office. There's no real sci-fi aesthetic and costuming looks like it was by actor's choice. Dialogue is robotic (& without irony) and the characters meant to be mysterious are laughable. Way too slow in all developments. Had potential but unfortunately falls short. All that said, it's watchable.

Look, this wasn't a terrible movie. It was fun. It kept my interest enough to care about what happens. I loved the wardrobe, sets, and futuristic aesthetics! The setting was a believable future.

The acting was good from most of the cast. Elena Kampouris was fantastic as a robotic wife. I'm wondering if some CGI trickery was involved because she's so beautiful. Almost too perfect.

And the movie started off well... but then the plot kind of went off the rails. Some big holes, more questions than answers, a little sloppy. I think it was meant to present the viewer with moral, philosophical conundrums but they got lost along the way in the foggy plot.

Also, maybe it's just how I was reading it... but there was a theme that felt man-hatey or like the demonization of men on a biological level. If so, that I didn't care for.

Nevertheless, out of all the movies of this type in recent years, I liked this one not best but amongst the better of them. It's worth the hour and 45 minutes to see what you get out of it.

While this is rooted in the original Stepford Wives it does have a new twist. That twist is good and solid enough to make this film different enough to be worthy of a watch without thinking of the Stepford Wives.

I like the story line, and I suspect strongly that in other hands this film would have been a solid 7. However I only rated it 4.

The sets were really nice, albeit basic. The photography was very competent and it was paced well, I never found myself getting bored.

The problem? Poor acting, weak direction, B movie dialogue, and the attention to cheap thrills instead of concentrating on a great dramatic storyline. A very mature director would have brought this story home and entranced us all.

I would definitely recommend it as a Sunday evening thriller, as long as your expectations don't go too high.