Men, Women & Children, film review: This cautionary tale takes itself very seriously
(15) Jason Reitman, 120 mins Starring: Rosemarie DeWitt, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Kaitlyn Dever
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jason Reitman's cautionary tale about social interaction in the digital age plays in its lesser moments like a public-information film. The characters here are so busy looking at smartphones and computers that they don't communicate properly with one another.
There is the mum (Jennifer Garner) who polices her daughter's online activities in absurdly zealous fashion. There is the adolescent girl who dreams of celebrity and, with her mother's encouragement, posts provocative pictures of herself on a website.
There's the middle-aged man (Adam Sandler) whose marriage has gone stale and who looks at escort services on porn sites, little suspecting that his equally unfulfilled wife is making her own plans online. Ansel Elgort from Unhook the Stars plays a high-school football hero-turned-obsessive gamer.
Parts of Men, Women & Children are very acutely observed and have real poignance. The problem is the Short Cuts-style structure, with its multiple characters and overlapping storylines. Reitman has to jump around so much that he can't develop his ideas in much depth.
The narration (read by Emma Thompson) and the references to the cosmologist Carl Sagan have a strangely distancing effect. A film that takes itself very seriously, it could surely have benefitted from some of the ironic humour found in earlier Reitman movies such as Juno and Up in the Air.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments