Love Me

After an apocalyptic event, a buoy designed to record water temperature (Kristen Stewart) and a communications satellite (Steven Yeun) are the only sentient beings left on earth. In the opening of "Love Me," they make contact through what remains of the internet. The two start out chatting, relying on their existing programming. Eventually, they create primitive avatars that interact in a world they've created. Both really want this relationship to work. They scan available data sources to discover what it takes to create and sustain a relationship. In a tragic development, Stewart's character, who imaginatively identifies herself as "Me," comes across a too-cute self-absorbed vlogger named Deja, whose relationship with boyfriend Liam is hardly a role model for anything constructive. Fortunately, Yeun's character, called "Iam" (see what they did there?!), isn't into over-sharing.

"Love Me" is the feature film debut for Co-Writers/Co-Directors Sam and Andrew Zuchero, a husband and wife team. For this film, they've obviously developed a bold, audacious and completely unique concept. I wish the ideas here were more fully developed.

It's more than a little ironic that "Love Me," a film so decidedly out-of-the-box, brings to mind so many other works. In its creation and execution, "Love Me" reminds me a little of "Wall-E." In its exploration of what it means to be human, it evokes "The Creator" and "After Yang." The "New York Times" points out that "Love Me" is superficially similar to another current show, the Broadway musical "Maybe Happy Ending." (Full disclosure: my nephew co-wrote the musical.) But while the musical is tightly focused on a couple of key themes - love, death, the risks/rewards of relationships - "Love Me" is all over the place.

This film has a dizzying array of ideas spinning around in its orbit. Perhaps it's just too much, because it fails to explore anything fully. That's too bad, because some of the ideas in "Love Me" show real promise. The film implies that looking to TikTok for relationship advice may not be the best option. Fair point. It clearly supports the notion that before developing a healthy bond with another, one must do the hard work of gaining self-respect and a sense of self-worth. Terrific. "Love Me" also does an excellent job depicting the palpable need for connection with others that occurs when these inanimate objects meet. Inspired. But the film does nothing to excavate these ideas in ways that offer greater depth or a new point of view. As a result, the final product is surprisingly soulless. While I was intrigued to see how this story unfolded, I had no emotional investment in what happened between these two characters.

There are, however, some funny moments. Apparently, the story takes place over six billion years (or 6000 years, if you're a Young Earth Creationist). At one point, Me and Iam become estranged because the buoy sinks and the signal is lost. The two have to wait a few eons for all the water on earth to evaporate so connection can be restored. As they work to rekindle the relationship, Iam observes that he's had several million years to reflect on what's gone wrong in the past and what he really needs in a relationship.

Ultimately, "Love Me" is a wonderful concept that's never fully realized. Although some elements of the film don't work, it's an exhilarating diversion from the steady diet of slasher films and superhero movies Hollywood is force-feeding us. More Zucheros, please!

Love Me (2025) is a science fiction romance movie and it was very mediocre.

Positives for Love Me (2025): Steven Yuen and Kristen Stewart do have good chemistry with each other. There are some interesting things being explored in the movie. The movie has good pacing. And finally, I liked the futuristic look of certain scenes and they were interesting.

Negatives for Love Me (2025): There are things in the movie that I found to be weird. I failed to understand the whole point of the story. And finally, the timeline of the movie doesn't really make any sense.

Overall, Love Me (2025) is a mix bag of things I liked and things I disliked.

This film wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. It was Definitley super weird and some things (technically speaking) didn't make a whole lot of sense. BUT I think it's one of the most creative films I've seen in a long time. It says a lot of things, and I would argue it does a good job of saying them. It has some hard hitting messages about self and how we fit into relationships as people, messages I've never seen on screen before. That to me is what makes great art, an expression of something I've never even thought to say. Yet it's relatable, human and we all feel it. This film is super strange, and different, but I enjoyed what it has to say and its method of saying it was very interesting to say the least.

Granted I watched this tired on an airplane- so maybe I'm crazy. All these negative reviews are surprising me and making me doubt myself.

Google lifespan of solar panels and it shows 25 to 35 years. Even if the panels are super futuristic panels, it still wouldn't last as long as it would in the movie.

Metal degradation alone wouldn't make sense, which is around 150years. Again way shorter than the timeline of the movie.

I haven't even touch on the lifespan of electronics. Even if it's super futuristic, the battery still have a lifespan.

All this is to say the timeline in the movie makes no sense!

The entire premise of the movie is deeply flawed. It's about earth and not a galaxy far far away or a fantasy land with magic and wands to wave away the contemporary impossibles.

I like both Kristen Stewart (more SEBERG and ADVENTURELAND than TWILIGHT) and Steven Yeun (THE WALKING DEAD), and I also love a good post-apocalyptic story, so that was enough for me to put this movie on reserve at the library. Unfortunately, the film is a bit of a misfire. I hate knocking a film for being too ambitious, but this romance between an AI buoy in the ocean and a satellite in space, which are both still functioning centuries after humans have gone extinct, doesn't quite pull off its ambitions. The two base their robot courtship on a social media influencer's posts about herself and her boyfriend, with the two taking on avatars of their long-dead human inspirations. There's a subtext about real-life versus phony online "lives" and, more importantly, about love and connection, that even in a lifeless world, two sentient machines still yearn for connection. The film lacked the emotional resonance it was aspiring to, but Stewart and Yuen are both likable and manage to make the film watchable, even if they are CGI avatars for too much of the film. Even though I won't recommend LOVE ME, I'll be curious to see what writer/directors Andrew & Sam Zuchero do in the future.