Adam DeVine has a special relationship with his phone in the trailer for the upcoming comedy, Jexi. The Pitch Perfect and Workaholics veteran stars in the film as Phil, a fellow who makes his living writing “Top 10” pop culture lists, has no real friends, and spends most of his free time on his phone. However, when he upgrades his phone, his new model comes with Jexi (voiced by Rose Byrne): an extremely frank A.I. virtual assistant who helps Phil to get his life on track. However, when he starts to become less dependent on her, Jexi morphs into a waking nightmare.
Written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (the writers of The Hangover and creators of the Bad Moms movies), Jexi features a supporting cast that includes names like Alexandra Shipp, Michael Peña, Charlyne Yi, and Ron Funches, in addition to comedian Wanda Sykes. It’s currently set to hit theaters in early October, no doubt in the hopes of succeeding as counter-programming to the awards contenders and big-budget tentpoles arriving that month. As such, its marketing campaign is fully underway.
Lionsgate has now dropped the Jexi green band trailer online, having already released the red band trailer a couple weeks ago. You can watch both trailers in the space below.
For the most part, the Jexi green band trailer is the same as the red band version, albeit with the R-rated jokes either cut out entirely or replaced with all-audience appropriate alternatives. The movie seems a bit like a raunchier and more darkly comedic take on the premise for Spike Jonze’s Oscar-winning A.I. romance Her, albeit in a modern setting and with Jexi hewing closer to a real-world virtual assistant like Siri than a sci-fi creation (a la Her’s Samantha). Of course, there are other big differences; namely, Jexi, unlike Her, clearly has a heavy-handed message about the dangers of people spending too much time on their phones and becoming dependent on them. Beyond that, Jexi seems to strike the same broad comedy tone as Lucas and Moore’s previous R-rated films (for better or worse).
With Ang Lee’s sci-fi action movie Gemini Man and the animated Addams Family adaptation opening the same weekend as Jexi, there is room for the latter to thrive as a counter-option for those in the mood to watch an adults-only comedy. At the same time, there’s not a whole lot about the Jexi trailers that suggests it’s a must-see in theaters, even for those who enjoyed Lucas and Moore’s efforts on films like Bad Moms and 21 & Over (in addition to, of course, The Hangover). Still, with original R-rated comedies like Good Boys having topped the box office recently in addition to pleasing critics, there’s a chance Jexi will go over better than expected.
Source: Lionsgate
- Jexi Release Date: 2019-10-11
