Official Synopsis
tells the story of high school teenagers and their parents who attempt to navigate their complex relationships in an era defined by social media, online exchanges, and instant gratification.
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Jason Reitman does a wonderful job of humanizing his characters and making them relatable in someway to his viewers. What he creates with Men, Women & Children is just that.
The story Reitman weaves revolves around a set of characters who know each other. Each character’s choice ignites and shapes the choice of another, kind of a ripple effect, if you will. The movie starts with the introduction to Don Truby (Adam Sandler), who is looking for a way to ‘get off’ while no one is at home. He goes from computer to computer trying to access porn, which is sad because you immediately figure out that Truby’s problem is that he is lost and lonely within his marriage. His wife, Helen (Rosemarie DeWitt), is in the same boat.
The movie progresses to introduce us to other characters involved, as we get introduced to a star football player named Tim Mooney (Ansel Elgort), who has lost the desire to play football due to a recent divorce with his parents. His story is probably the most entertaining in the bunch, as most people who have divorced parents can probably relate to the lost/emptiness that comes from such a family tragedy like divorce. Elgort does a fabulous job with selling it to the audience and is one of the more likable parts of the story.
Other characters come into the story, we have a popular cheerleader named Hannah (Olivia Crocicchia) that has holds nasty secrets from her mother about her sex life. Hannah is looked up to by an insecure cheerleader named Allison (Elena Kampouris), who wants to be Hannah, even if it means hurting herself to get there.
The circle of characters rounds out with an overbearing (to say the least) mother named Patricia Beltmeyer (Jennifer Garner), who is constantly checking and making sure her daughter, Brandy (Kaitlyn Dever), is on the right track with her real life, as well as her online life. Brandy goes against her mother and leads a secret life of independence on the side, which connects her with Tim.
The two lone characters out there that have a hard time connecting back into the story, though they seem just as broken as the rest, is Kent Mooney (Dean Norris) and Donna Clint (Judy Greer). They do play important roles in the lives of their children, but seem a bit out of sorts and undeveloped by the end.
The brilliance of this film is how the pieces (people) are pushed apart and then connected together to find their way back — good or bad. For example, Tim’s relationship with Brandy is unexpected and unpredictable, but makes sense when it gets going and developed. Seeing the two characters start out as two different people from two different worlds makes you think there is no way this is going to work. As the small pieces of their shattered lives start moving towards each other (Tim dealing with quitting on a team (and divorce) and Brandy dealing with her mother), it all starts to really come together and make sense. It’s wild to see in motion, but the final result is just brilliant.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, albeit a frightening one, Helen and Don’s continual separation shows how quickly a uncommunicative marriage can go bad and what it eventually leads to. Even in the midst of finding comfort with ‘other people and things’, both characters still end up in the same place, which is unhappiness. Reitman’s treatment of this separation is as good as his treatment of Tim and Brandy’s eventual bond. Don and Helen have a believable and real situation that a lot of marriages stumble on. Reitman finesse’s this relationship into a beautiful collapse, and Sandler and DeWitt orchestrate it gorgeously. It feels like a tragedy, but a real one.
Again, that’s the brilliance of this film. Reitman brings a real humanized view of how life can be in different situations. His film, at least in my opinion, speaks a true tone of how people deal with problems and how they recover from them — good or bad. One thing that you’ll find in the film right from the start is how he sprinkles in a heavy amount of social media and online to push each character through. The idea of quick and convenient social/online fixes helps to patch up (and create holes) for some of his characters. It was a clever way to use the phone/online/social media theme that we all live our lives by and it fits within the overall scheme of the film.
Anyway, if you want a film that doesn’t contain comedy and is built beautifully to show the brokenness of lives (and the repair work), then give this a go. This is not for the faint of heart, by the way. It’s a serious film with a serious tone. Don’t let Adam Sandler’s name fool you.
On the Blu-ray side of things, Paramount did a great job with the HD transfer. They are one of my top three studios who does a consistently good job with their Blu-rays. You won’t find any imperfections or graininess in this one — even if you want there to be at times (there are some tough scenes to watch in the film). Anyway, the transfer quality is there and it’s what you should expect from Paramount these days.
The special features round this release out like this:
– Virtual Intimacy
– Seamless Interface
– Deleted Scenes
Not much here, but what you do get is nothing short of thought provoking. It’s solid stuff, though the quantity you see here on the list might make you think otherwise. Anyway, you won’t be looking for special features after you’re done with this one. You might be reflecting on your own life and how it’s going. With that said, I do wish Reitman had done some commentary for this release. I would have loved to hear some more background and explanation of the characters and story.
