george.schmidt Review of Men, Women & Children

Men, Women & Children (2014)

Awkward attempt to dramatize 'plugging in' and 'zoning out'

[6/10 · 12 October 2014]

MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN (2014) ** Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Timothee Chalamet, Olivia Crocicchia, Katilyn Deve, Ansel Elgort, Kathernie C. Hughes, Elena Kampouris, Will Peltz, Travis Tope, David Denman, Dennis Haysbert, JK Simmons, Phil LaMarr; (Narration: Emma Thompson) Jason Reitman's awkward attempt to dramatize the effect of 'plugging in' to the tech savvy world of interpersonal communication (texting, social media etc.) fumbles with its overkill screenplay by his collaborators, Chad Kultgen and Erin Cressida Wilson with borderline caricature characters (to wit: prudish momma bear Garner is a laughing-stock scold who monitors her poor teenage daughter Deve to the point of fascist madness and the flip-side of Greer as the enabling mother of sexually advancing offspring Crocicchia by taking provocative photographs for their website) and eye-rolling dialogue and teeth-grinding unnecessarily distant (literally) narration by snooty Thompson nearly capsizes this otherwise well-acted cautionary tale of porn addiction, affairs, and bullying in high school that the similar DISCONNECT did two years earlier with similar half-hearted effect.