Men, Women & Children (2014)

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.

Director:

Jason Reitman

Writers:

Jason Reitman (screenplay), Erin Cressida Wilson (screenplay),

Stars:

Kaitlyn Dever, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ansel Elgort

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Sandler	...	Don Truby
Jennifer Garner	...	Patricia Beltmeyer
Rosemarie DeWitt	...	Helen Truby
Judy Greer	...	Donna Clint
Dean Norris	...	Kent Mooney
Emma Thompson	...	Narrator (voice)
Timothée Chalamet	...	Danny Vance
Olivia Crocicchia	...	Hannah Clint
Kaitlyn Dever	...	Brandy Beltmeyer
Ansel Elgort	...	Tim Mooney
Katherine Hughes	...	Brooke Benton (as Katherine C. Hughes)
Elena Kampouris	...	Allison Doss
Will Peltz	...	Brandon Lender
Travis Tope	...	Chris Truby
David Denman	...	Jim Vance

Storyline

Men, Women and Children follows the story of a group of high school teenagers and their parents as they attempt to navigate the many ways the internet has changed their relationships, their communication, their self-image, and their love lives. The film attempts to stare down social issues such as video game culture, anorexia, infidelity, fame hunting, and the proliferation of illicit material on the internet. As each character and each relationship is tested, we are shown the variety of roads people choose - some tragic, some hopeful - as it becomes clear that no one is immune to this enormous social change that has come through our phones, our tablets, and our computers.

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Plot Keywords:

internet | high school | computer | anorexia | video game | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue throughout-some involving teens, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 October 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pale Blue Dot

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$47,553 (USA) (3 October 2014)

Gross:

$461,162 (USA) (17 October 2014)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Right of Way Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie starts off with the camera looking into the Stars, while a film one of the cast members, Ansel Elgort, previously worked on, The Fault In Our Stars, was also starts off looking into the stars

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Goofs

18 minutes into the film, the narrator says, "On September 27th, 2013, after 36 years of space travel, the Voyager finally exited our solar system and entered uncharted territories." In reality, on September 12 of that year, NASA confirmed that Voyager I had left the heliosphere but that this had actually occurred on August 25, 2012. The narrator then goes on to say, "But not before taking this photo of Earth from 3.7 billion miles away." While strictly speaking this is true, the "Pale Blue Dot" photograph was taken on February 14, 1990 - over 23 years before the narration implies that it was, and shortly after which the Voyager's cameras were permanently deactivated to conserve electrical power for the remaining scientific instruments on board.

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Quotes

Narrator: [recites extract from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot, A Vision of the Human Future in Space] That's home. That's us. On it everyone you know, everyone you love, everyone you ever heard of every human being who ever was live and died their lives. Every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, every saint and sinner i the history of our species lived there on the mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. How frequent their misunderstandings, how fervent their hatreds. Our imagined ...

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Connections

Featured in Film 2015: Episode dated 5 November 2014 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Never
Written by Lewis John Aelwyn Roberts
Performed by Koreless

User Reviews

Smartphones, Social Media, Surveillance

Smartphones, Social Media, Surveillance, Spying: Saw Men, Women & Children starring Adam Sandler, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jennifer Garner, and Ansel Elgort at AMC Theatres. The film basically depicts the times we live in; and what I mean by that is how the Internet and technology has changed our lives.

The main characters including high school students and their parents are followed throughout the movie which focuses on how the Internet impacts their relationships, communication, self-image, and love lives.

Several societal social issues are explored including, video games behavioral impact on teenage boys, the emotional impact of spreading rumors, per-marital sex, teen pregnancy, eating disorders, drug use, divorce, infidelity, Internet safety, fame-hunting, and pornography.

Each character/relationship is tested throughout the movie; which shows us, the audience, a variety of roads people choose in their lives; some negative, some positive; but no matter the road taken, the one thing that is very noticeably clear; immunity to the significant societal social change through the use of our smartphones, tablets, and computers in our society is unavoidable.

I found the film somewhat difficult to follow, but the narration by Emma Thompson did make that easier to do. Not the most entertaining film, but most definitely one that comes with many life lesson messages. Not a must see, but if you are looking for a different kind of film which delves in to societal social issues, go see it. My cinema score 7/10. ‪#‎maverickradio‬™