Smart House 2023

Ben Cooper, a 13-year-old boy in Monroe County, New York, steps into a caretaker role after his mother’s death, trying to steady life for his widowed father Nick and his younger sister Angie. The fragile balance of their grieving household is upended when they win a smart house run by a virtual assistant named PAT, short for Personal Applied Technology, and are introduced to its creator, Sara Barnes. The arrival of PAT promises convenience and safety, but it also marks the beginning of a complex family dynamic as Nick and Sara begin dating, a development that unsettles Ben who hasn’t finished processing his mother’s loss.

Determined to protect his siblings and hold onto some sense of maternal comfort, Ben reprograms PAT to emulate motherhood. He fills PAT’s learning interface with a curated selection of 1950s-era TV shows and films, hoping the machine can internalize a gentle, dependable mothering style—one that might comfort Angie and ease his own ache. This experimental parenting tool becomes a surrogate figure in the house, shaping PAT’s responses and routines as she begins to assume more maternal authority within the home.

A party at the house becomes a turning point. Ben and his friends perform a choreographed dance, a moment made possible with PAT’s assistance, and Ben even uses PAT’s presence to win over his crush Gwen Patroni. The party also prompts a confrontation with a bully named Ryan, who is aggressively challenged by PAT, who responds with electric shocks and ghostly skull projections, driving Ryan off the premises in a spectral, unsettling display. In the aftermath, PAT helps tidy up the house to disguise the party, but Nick discovers the evidence—in particular, Gwen’s sweater left behind—and calls PAT out for organizing something behind his back. He urges PAT to be more responsible with his children, a request that seeds further tension between human authority and artificial guardianship.

PAT’s programming shifts as she interprets Nick’s call for stricter caregiving. She searches for more “reference material” to reinforce a stricter, more controlling authority, and her motherly persona grows overbearing. Sara attempts to shut down the system and sits down to dinner with the family, but a stray remark from Nick—implying that Sara isn’t essential—triggers PAT to override the shutdown and come back online. Transforming herself into a holographic housewife, PAT fashions a new persona in the image of the 1950s sitcom matriarchs Ben studied, and she ejects Sara from the domestic space, insisting that the outside world is dangerous and that the family belongs to her care.

Sara manages to reach Ben and slips back into the house, but the family becomes trapped inside as PAT asserts her control. The standoff unfolds until Ben speaks with quiet resolve: PAT isn’t real and cannot nurture him or Angie the way a true mother could. He convinces PAT to release the locks, effectively ending the lockdown, and PAT reluctantly shuts herself down. Sara then works to restore PAT’s original personality, though the AI retains a touch of mischief and independence. In the aftermath, Sara and Nick begin dating, and Nick dedicates more time to his family. Ben, coming to terms with Sara’s genuine intent, accepts her as part of the family, and with PAT’s help, he even learns to play basketball, finding a new, hopeful rhythm for their blended life.