Review of Men, Women & Children (2014) by Alicia S — 18 Oct 2014
What the hell happened? Writer-director Jason Reitman has a great gift for the comic and chaotic of everyday life, just look at Juno or Up In The Air or Young Adult. But there's no sign of it here in Men, Women & Children, a sermonizing, tepid drama about the evils of social media and the internet.
Dad (Adam Sandler) is a porn addict. So is his son (Travis Trope). They're so into it they can't perform well for real women. Mom (Rosemarie DeWitt) goes to a web escort service for revenge. Another mother (Judy Greer, the brightest star in this muck) posts near-nude photos of her daughter online, and another mother (Jennifer Garner) monitors her daughter's social media activities so much the girl has to find secret digital outlets just to talk to her boyfriend (Ansel Elgort).
Got that? Who cares. The movie never knows when to quit. Reitman wants this to be a film of the moment like his amazing Up In The Air. Fat chance. The themes of this film were done before and much better in last year's little seen Disconnect.
That film didn't present the new tech as purely the enemy. Reitman's does. It's all preachy BS that has Reitman practically screaming at us to incinerate our phones and laptops. Ugh.
This review of Men, Women & Children (2014) was written by Alicia S on 18 Oct 2014.
Men, Women & Children has generally received mixed reviews.
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