“I can’t play that for her. ‘I want to squeeze you, lick you, pucker up and kiss you?’ You make her sound like a lemon!”

Justin’s rating: But I… was learning… to loooooov

Justin’s review: If we’re to take the opening dialogue at face value, Electric Dreams may be the first “fairytale for computers” ever filmed. As the movie goes out of its way to show (or remind) us, the early ’80s was leaping into the digital age with reckless abandon, and everyone was crazy for all sorts of electric gadgets — especially the relatively new home computer.

Slightly hapless Miles (Lenny von Dohlen, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) is talked into purchasing a PC to help with his organizational skills — and control every appliance in his apartment. But when he spills champagne on it, the device pulls a Johnny 5 and comes alive — naming itself Edgar.

If a sentient learning machine in the home isn’t enough to keep Miles on his toes, he starts to fall for his new cello-playing neighbor Madeline (Virginia Madsen, Dune). The only problem is that Edgar does too — and now we’ve got a love triangle that couldn’t really exist before the ’80s. Miles and Edgar vie for her affections and start to wage a high-tech war against each other. The only question is… how will it end?

For whatever reason, I thought this would be bottom-of-the-barrel schlock and was absolutely floored by how well-done and creative Electric Dreams was. This is demonstrated by the fusion of a peppy soundtrack with extremely dynamic cinematography. Parts of this movie play out like a music video, which makes sense because first-time director Steve Barron was the mastermind behind a ton of classic music videos of the era (he also went on to helm Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, proving that he had the chops to make it into blockbusters).

While an unconventional romance-drama with some comedic elements tossed in, Electric Dreams was one of the earlier films to explore fears and possibilities with computer control over home living, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. I thought that the filmmakers did a good job giving Edgar’s screen a well-animated interface — again, with more effort and energy than expected. He does become a legitimate character in his own right with a pure love of music that Miles lacks.

Oh, and I did a double-take when I saw Maxwell Caulfield as another potential love interest for Madeline. Oh Rexy you’re so sexy!

What I was less crazy about was the fact that at least half this movie pits two characters against each other to win a girl, which is probably my least favorite type of romantic template. I simply find these kinds of stories full of conflict, stress, and people being intolerably mean toward each other before things resolve five minutes prior to the end credits. That approach sucks a lot of the fun out of any story that uses it.

As a result, Electric Dreams is a really good time… until it’s not. Edgar goes from an endearing childlike learner to a murderous controlling jealous psycho in the span of like 20 minutes, and either this is going to end with Terminators everywhere or heartbreak. It’s yet another good reminder why AI even today isn’t the cure-all that should be wielded without thought and constraint.

And then it’s not good… until it is again. As a “fairytale for computers,” Electric Dreams takes a newborn intelligence and gives it both pathos and hope in the final scenes before taking us out on yet more incredible music. It’s easily one of the most emotional and artistic explorations of AI that I’ve seen — and all from a 12″ computer monitor.

Intermission!

• The opening font did not give me “flashing lights warning”
• Calculator watches! Remember those?
• “Do you have any bananas? I like your blue dress.”
• The scene playing out via security cameras
• His name is Moles now, I guess
• Computer-controlled home appliances isn’t just for Alexa, you know
• When he turns the power back on, the soundtrack resumes
• Pouring champagne all over your hot computer is not recommended
• Edgar repeating the cello notes
• The computer barking
• Pagers can provide two-way sound?
• Edgar doesn’t like to be touched
• “Since when is talking a sign of thinking?”
• Edgar’s screen has incredible resolution for the time
• Let’s have fun running around Alcatraz!
• Win a penguin for a guy and he’s yours forever
• The sad cello music playing over the crushed cello
• “Will you give me a break?” “Oh like McDonald’s?”
• Edgar playing Pong
• Edgar throwing himself a party and calling Dr. Ruth
• The computer exploding in slow-mo is amazing