Best original screenplay

I was extremely skeptical going into “Her.”  Spike Jonze’s two best films (“Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation”) were both written by the brilliant Charlie Kaufman, and Jonze’s last screenplay (“Where the Wild Things are”) was decent, but not good enough to stand by itself as a well-written piece.  We all saw the trailer, and I knew that the line he would have to toe between sincerity and cheese was razor thin.  But man he delivered.   “Her” examines the way love changes (or doesn’t) in the face of a changing world.  It examines the dimensions of love, whether or not it is truly possible to love someone for their mind and the problem of technology as being a catalyst for social cocooning and isolation– it really is a marvelous film in themes and subtext.  In terms of the plot of the film, Jonze doesn’t choose to highlight the oddity of the relationship, but treats it very normally and reserves judgement, and this decision allows the characters to interact realistically and display genuine emotion.

Honorable Mentions: The Coen Brothers for “Inside Llewyn Davis”, Woody Allen for “Blue Jasmine”