I liked Juno. I did. I also liked Young Adult. I thought both gave us compelling stories about likable characters in relatable situations. I was hoping to get more of the same from Men, Women and Children. Jason Reitman is a capable director, and I am always interested to see what he does. I'm usually happy with the results.
This film follows a group of high school teenagers and their parents struggling with the minutia of their own lives and how the pervasiveness of various social media affects them. It is clear early on that the attitude towards social media and the accessibility of the Internet, in general, is primarily negative. There is little to no positive interaction between characters that happens online. A running theme through the film is the comparison of humanity's cosmic insignificance and how social networking is so incredibly selfish and egocentric.
The film opens with a shot of the Voyager I craft floating out in space and an explanation of the craft and its mission, showing the picture of earth that Voyager took right as it left the solar system in 1990 entitled Pale Blue Dot. A YouTube clip of Carl Sagan's reflections on the photo also titled Pale Blue Dot is discovered by one of the characters after his mother abruptly leaves him and his father for California and a new life. The emotionally distraught teenager latches onto the video's nihilistic undertone.
On the other side of that, one of the characters is an incredibly self-involved teenage girl who, with the help of her mother, has a “modeling” website dedicated to just pictures of her in marginally provocative poses. The film succeeds in showing us that we should all take a step back from our Facebook,Twitter etc., and stop to realize that we as individuals are not the most important things in the universe. Score one for Nietzsche!
While the message is clear (internet: BAD!), the film tries to show us all of the new problems that the internet has caused, but ends up just showing us new spins on old favorites. Infidelity existed before Ashley Madison.com. Parents were overbearing before keystroke counters, history searches and GPS phone tracking. Teenagers hated their bodies before anorexia encouragement sites. There were asshole dudes before text snubbing. Parents made some questionable decisions in the name of helping their children before modeling websites. I kept thinking it was Fast Times at Ridgemont High but with the Internets!
With only about two likable characters in the movie and meandering plot threads that just kind of bump into one another, this film feels self-indulgent and a little messy. Attempting to split the focus on so many characters can be difficult. Here, it results in a number of unremarkable and underdeveloped stories that don't deliver on their own and, unfortunately, don't come together to form a cohesive narrative.
To be fair, though, the film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Chad Kultgen, and as everyone is well aware, the detail and complexity of a novel is quite difficult to replicate on film. Having not read the book itself I can't possibly pretend to know how the movie and book line up, but I felt it deserved a mention.
But, that is not to say I give Men, Women and Children a pass; it still failed to hold my interest in all but one character's story. It felt bloated and plodding, never giving enough attention to any one character at a time. What we end up with is a film that is like a giant bowl of oatmeal with only half a dozen blueberries. Sure, the blueberries are in there, but there is just far too few of them to make the oatmeal enjoyable.
—Eric Harrelson
This film follows a group of high school teenagers and their parents struggling with the minutia of their own lives and how the pervasiveness of various social media affects them. It is clear early on that the attitude towards social media and the accessibility of the Internet, in general, is primarily negative. There is little to no positive interaction between characters that happens online. A running theme through the film is the comparison of humanity's cosmic insignificance and how social networking is so incredibly selfish and egocentric.
The film opens with a shot of the Voyager I craft floating out in space and an explanation of the craft and its mission, showing the picture of earth that Voyager took right as it left the solar system in 1990 entitled Pale Blue Dot. A YouTube clip of Carl Sagan's reflections on the photo also titled Pale Blue Dot is discovered by one of the characters after his mother abruptly leaves him and his father for California and a new life. The emotionally distraught teenager latches onto the video's nihilistic undertone.
On the other side of that, one of the characters is an incredibly self-involved teenage girl who, with the help of her mother, has a “modeling” website dedicated to just pictures of her in marginally provocative poses. The film succeeds in showing us that we should all take a step back from our Facebook,Twitter etc., and stop to realize that we as individuals are not the most important things in the universe. Score one for Nietzsche!
While the message is clear (internet: BAD!), the film tries to show us all of the new problems that the internet has caused, but ends up just showing us new spins on old favorites. Infidelity existed before Ashley Madison.com. Parents were overbearing before keystroke counters, history searches and GPS phone tracking. Teenagers hated their bodies before anorexia encouragement sites. There were asshole dudes before text snubbing. Parents made some questionable decisions in the name of helping their children before modeling websites. I kept thinking it was Fast Times at Ridgemont High but with the Internets!
With only about two likable characters in the movie and meandering plot threads that just kind of bump into one another, this film feels self-indulgent and a little messy. Attempting to split the focus on so many characters can be difficult. Here, it results in a number of unremarkable and underdeveloped stories that don't deliver on their own and, unfortunately, don't come together to form a cohesive narrative.
To be fair, though, the film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Chad Kultgen, and as everyone is well aware, the detail and complexity of a novel is quite difficult to replicate on film. Having not read the book itself I can't possibly pretend to know how the movie and book line up, but I felt it deserved a mention.
But, that is not to say I give Men, Women and Children a pass; it still failed to hold my interest in all but one character's story. It felt bloated and plodding, never giving enough attention to any one character at a time. What we end up with is a film that is like a giant bowl of oatmeal with only half a dozen blueberries. Sure, the blueberries are in there, but there is just far too few of them to make the oatmeal enjoyable.
—Eric Harrelson
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