Men, Women & Children (2014) Directed by Jason Reitman. Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Ansel Elgort. IMDB says: “A group of high school teenagers and their parents attempt to navigate the many ways the Internet has changed their relationships, their communication, their self-image, and their love lives.”
Jason Reitman has a knack for exploring complicated issues in his films – whether it’s the dangerous products marketed to you, the economic downturn and job loss, or teenage pregnancy. In most of his films this was a point of high praise. He handled these topics with nuance and humor. Maybe he went so dark in Young Adult that he had to pull himself out by doing something schmaltzy like Labor Day, but Reitman continues to struggle to gain his footing and return to directing great films. Men, Women & Children shows hints of that same promise while tackling our obsession with technology, but ultimately relies too heavily on sentiment to carry it through.
It’s not that this movie is terrible. It’s actually just okay. That mediocrity is what makes it hard to recommend, because you know Reitman is capable of much more. For everything positive to say, there’s something to critique. The cast is well-rounded, but there’s just too many of them for most characters to have enough impact. There’s some interesting and unique stories that I haven’t specifically seen before, but the ones that are predictable are just too glaring. Humor makes the film feel more light-hearted, but a constant reference to a satellite in space unsuccessfully begs to be taken seriously. There’s funny narration by Emma Thompson, but it’s used inconsistently and without a clear purpose. It leads to a very middle of the road movie.
This movies tells intersecting stories based on parents and children living in a Texas town, all having something to do with technology and the ways it’s changed how we live. There’s stories about spouses having affairs via internet dating sites, teenagers addicted to watching porn, a mother who’s insanely over-protective about her child’s internet use, two teens who find solace in each other and their web hobbies. The last one in particular involved Ansel Elgort and Kaitlyn Dever who became the highlight of the film for me (even if their story veered into the cliche at points). Some stories work far better than others. One weaker thread in particular featured an anorexic girl (Elena Kampouris) who’s story had no direction. It didn’t help that her father was played by JK Simmons who was pitifully underused with maybe 3-4 lines. There was nothing wrong with her performance, but with so many story threads going on it’s hard to make all of them strong.
By the end, the movie has ran the gambit of ways it can bring up technology. I was worried it would feel preachy, but it never really had the chance to be because there wasn’t enough emphasis on any particular message. There’s some harsh realities of our tech world but the movie makes the point that it’s not totally harmful. Men, Women, & Children isn’t overbearing, it isn’t as weak as Labor Day, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s good enough for a one time watch but is unfortunately inconsequential.
