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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Taglines:

Discover how little you know about the people you know

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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

David Denman's character name is Jim Vance. Both of those names are in The Office, a show that he was also in.

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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

Chris Truby: I've got, like, a pretty hard test tomorrow. So, I'm gonna go study.
[goes upstairs]
Don Truby: Yeah... studying.
Helen Truby: What are you talking about?
[Don gestures]
Helen Truby: You know, you're gross. He's 15.
Don Truby: That's all I did when I was 15.
Helen Truby: Yeah, that I believe.

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Connections

Featured in Film '72: Episode dated 2 December 2014 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Overlord
Written by Zakk Wylde
Performed by Black Label Society
Licensed courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment Ltd

User Reviews

A Soap Opera with Sticky Fingers

After director Jason Reitman almost drowned in 'Labor Day's' syrupy conclusion, the opening minutes of his new film suggest he might have got his feet back on solid ground and his hands on some gritty material. 'Men, Women and Children' kicks off portraying how social media affects American suburban communities, but its collection of characters have too many narrative arcs, and the script just skates over their dilemmas. Almost all of the issues are connected to sex and the internet - such as: teenage romance, extra-marital hook-ups, divorcée dating, obsessive masturbation, porn-induced impotence, hyper-controlling parents, anorexia, video game addiction, child exploitation and high school cyber-bullying.

The fine cast turns in sound performances, but they're little more than cardboard cut-outs enmeshed in soap opera melodramas, and their stories don't make a deep impression. Reitman attempts to give this middle-class stew some extra weight with irrelevant footage of a 1970's space probe departing the solar system accompanied by a pompous voice-over, but the device fails to give the film any gravity. The plot-lines with the 'decent' people are conventionally tied up with pink ribbon at the end, while the masturbators, fornicators and sexually-repressed snoops are left dangling in the void. 'Men, Women and Children' shows Reitman is still stuck in the treacly traditions of commercial cinema - with a cynical eye coldly calculating sweet box-office returns.