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 communications, their self-images, 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:

teenage girl | sex scene | oral sex | internet | high school | 

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Taglines:

The real Modern Family.

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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 Twitter

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 October 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pale Blue Dot

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$47,553, 3 October 2014, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$461,162, 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

Co-Writer and Director Jason Reitman felt so much of the acting in the film was so based on reactions to texts, chats, and photos that using dummy screens with no text would not suffice. The production team had to create very realistic-looking versions of popular websites, all on their own tightly controlled software, with which the actors and actresses could interact in real-time. According to Reitman, they spent "the same amount of budget on creating the digital world as we did creating the physical one. People know what Facebook looks like better than they do a hotel lobby, you stare at it all day, so it had to be convincing."

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Goofs

At the start of the film, Voyager's parabolic dish antenna faces Earth, to transmit and receive data. At the end of the film, as Voyager is nearing the edge of the galaxy, the dish is facing away from Earth, making communication with it impossible.

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Quotes

Don Truby: I just wanna know... what you'd like in your eggs.
Helen Truby: Don, we need to talk about this. I've made mistakes.
Don Truby: So have I. Oh yeah, so have I. Probably worse than you. I don't know, Helen. That's just it.
Helen Truby: That's just... what's just it?
Don Truby: Well, we could sit here and tell each other everything we've ever done. Shit, everything we've ever thought. It might take a while. But yeah, we could clear everything up and go to sleep tonight with some pretty vivid pictures in our heads. Or you could just tell me what...

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Connections

Features Guild Wars 2 (2012)

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Soundtracks

She's Gone
Written by Daryl Hall and John Oates
Performed by Hall & Oates
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

A sobering and uncomfortably accurate portrait of the digital age.

Jason Reitman's Men, Women and Children takes aim at communication in the digital age, offering a sobering and uncomfortably accurate portrait of the way we connect - or rather, fail to connect - with each other when there's a wealth of technology at our fingertips. Take Don (Adam Sandler) for example: a quiet schlub whose sexless marriage to Helen (Rosemarie DeWitt) finds him sneaking into his son's room to feed his internet porn addiction, while his wife struggles with the temptation of using a cheating website to start an extramarital affair. This is the kind of issue that an open dialogue and honest communication could likely overcome - but that would require both of them to put down their iPads or look away from the television.

There's also Hannah (Olivia Crocicchia), a fame-obsessed cheerleader who force-feeds her sexuality to everyone around her in hopes of blazing a path to stardom, Kardashian style. It doesn't help that she's enabled by her mom, Donna (Judy Greer), a failed actress who constantly snaps photos of her daughter for a "modeling" website that happens to include a private section reserved for paying members. Hannah has a thing for Chris (Travis Tope), Don's football player son whose own internet porn habits would not only put his dad's to shame, but have also left him unable to become aroused by anything but the images on his monitor.

Most tragic and heartbreaking of all is Allison (Elena Kampouris), so desperate to catch the eye of her crush that she developed an eating disorder after overhearing him make a disparaging comment about her weight. Now pale and waifish, she maintains her figure by seeking "support" from an online forum dedicated to staying thin at any cost, offering such helpful hunger-battling hints as "drink water and wait five minutes." Their slogan? "Pretty bitches never eat."

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Patricia (Jennifer Garner), a suburban parent who redefines the term "overprotecrive" as she demands that daughter Brandy (Kaitlyn Dever) surrender her cell phone on a regular basis so that she can read her emails and text messages, in addition to poring over pages of chat logs and using a GPS locator app to monitor her daughter's movements whenever she leaves the house. Patricia is convinced that she's keeping Brandy safely out of harm's way, yet remains oblivious to the fact that she's stifling any chance of her having a normal teenage existence.

And then there's Tim (Ansel Elgort), a star running back who elected to quit the football team in favor of investing his time in online role-playing games. Tim's interpretation of Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot (a recurring theme throughout the film) is that nothing matters in the grand scheme of things, so why bother investing in a "pointless" activity like football? He's much more content to form connections with other like-minded individuals in a virtual world, while growing increasingly distant from his father (Dean Norris), who continues to cope with the sudden departure of Tim's mother the previous year.

If that sounds like a lot to keep track of, you're correct. As the film progresses, each character is faced with their own individual conflicts, while simultaneously crossing paths with other characters and creating new conflicts along the way. It's not only gut- wrenching to see how commonplace cruelty has become in today's digital world, but terrifying to see how broadly we can all be affected by it. Seemingly innocuous decisions turn out to have major, far-reaching consequences, with actions affecting other characters in surprising ways. It's unapologetically reminiscent of Crash, which admittedly pulled off the same trick in a much more organic fashion that was far more believable.

But that's not to say that Men, Women and Children doesn't feel authentic. Having been acquainted with people that have struggled with eating disorders, depression, or poor self esteem, every performance in the film is pitch perfect, and it's almost frightening how expertly Reitman nails some of these issues. If you're looking for a film that will send you home with a smile on your face, this one isn't it. But if you want a thoughtful, genuine depiction of the how far our communication skills and regard for our fellow humans have fallen, look no further.