Hey folks, Harry here... I have been split on Jason Reitman thus far... I loved JUNO and YOUNG ADULT, liked THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, but haven't particularly cared for UP IN THE AIR or LABOR DAY. Reading Catfish Jackson's review... I'm not entirely sure where I'll come down on the film. But I've heard discouraging word from TIFF thus far. Hope it is better than it seems...
Hiya Harry,Catfish Jackson here in Hogtown to review the glitz and glamour of TIFF.On Saturday night I caught a screening of Jason Reitman’s new film Men, Women & Children. Reitman has been a festival darling for several years now, and his films are greeted with a lot of attention. Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Bill Murray were all in attendance to see what would hopefully be a return to form after last year’s disappointing Labor Day. Unfortunately, Men, Women & Children is another misfire from a director who could seemingly do no wrong just a few short years ago.The film is an ensemble piece about the various ways in which modern technology has changed the nature of dating and sex. The connecting thread is a high school in Texas, where almost all of the characters are students, parents, or teachers. The storylines include Adam Sandler as a middle aged man looking to hire an escort to escape his sexless marriage, a jock whose fetish has desensitized him to real sex, a cheerleader whose mom is exploiting her for the titillation of anonymous website subscribers, another jock who has given up football to become immersed in a World of Warcraft-type game, Jennifer Garner as a mom with a near-psychotic devotion to protecting her daughter from online predators, and probably a few other stories that I’m forgetting.Indeed, it’s all fairly forgettable. It seems like Reitman wanted to say everything, and ends up saying nothing. The film is oddly prudish and anti-technology. The brisk, interconnected storylines barely scratch the surface of whatever horror of the technological age they’re attempting to examine. Every time things start to get interesting it’s time to switch to a new POV. Eventually, we barely remember who these characters are or what they want, and the emotional stakes are non-existent. The film ultimately devolves into cheap sentiment when a major character attempts to commit suicide. If you’re going to show a teenager in that sort of real life jeopardy you’d better earn it, otherwise it comes across as shameless and exploitative.The film is mostly on the shoulders of the young cast, most of whom are relative newcomers. The problems of the film aren’t their fault. They all do a fine job, and are ably supported be a stable of veteran character actors like JK Simmons, Dean Norris and Judy Greer. Sandler brings star power to the film but his part is relatively small, and he does a credible job. However, after his stronger dramatic turns in films like Punch Drunk Love and Funny People, the fact that Sandler can act is no longer news, and does very little to elevate the film overall.Men, Women & Children is at once overconfident and desperate to impress you with its thoughtfulness. Reitman seems to have wanted so badly to say Big Things about The Way We Live Now that the end result is meandering and overwrought, like a high school philosophy essay written by one of his teenage characters. The zip and irreverence of earlier films like Thank You For Smoking and Juno is totally absent here – it’s a largely humourless affair. Also absent are the strong characterizations that Reitman put to effective use in Up In The Air and Young Adult. The film’s tagline suggests that we barely know our friends and neighbours, and after 2 hours of watching this film, we’re no closer to knowing them. Jennifer Garner in particular plays one of the most thoroughly dislikable characters I’ve seen in a movie in a while, a hyperprotective mom so utterly divorced from the norms of real behavior that she’s practically a supervillain.Men, Women & Children is a very accessible film about subject matter that will be considered universal to most audiences, and the appealing cast will give it a shot at success. However, it can only be considered a disappointment coming from Reitman, who has already shown an ability to tell simpler, smaller-scale stories to greater emotional effect. What’s Diablo Cody up to these days? Might be time to give her a call.
