Men, Women And Children

The problems the ensemble cast face in "Men, Women & Children" could be announced over the pulpit as the harbingers of a social media Sodom.

A group of high school teenagers and their parents address a series of online obstacles. Tim Mooney (Ansel Elgort) throws his school into a kerfuffle when he chooses to play video games instead of football, taking his mind off the fact that his mother has run off with a new boyfriend and defriended her son on Facebook. Meanwhile, 15-year-old Chris Truby (Travis Tope) has been so exposed to internet porn that he can't achieve an erection without domination techniques of which the girls his age simply aren't aware.

Chris' father Don (Adam Sandler) shares a virtual bonding moment with his son when he goes through the boy's browser history in search of material for masturbation. Then he uses the computer to hire an escort. Meanwhile, his wife, Helen (Rosemarie DeWitt), uses her work computer to meet someone online for an affair. Joan Clint (Judy Greer) plays an Internet stage mother, the web's Mama Rose, who uses suggestive pictures of her underage daughter to advance the girl's potential career as a model - just as Patricia Beltmeyer (Jennifer Garner) monitors her daughter's online activity down to installing a device that records the girl's every keystroke.

Academy Award-nominated director Jason Reitman brings the same thoughtful and poetic humor he displayed in "Up in the Air," "Thank You for Smoking," and "Juno" to this film, and the movie's light, secular humanist touch leaves us with hope for survival in a modern world. Love and human connection may be daunting and different from what they used to be, but certainly they have not been rendered impossible.

The "Men, Women & Children" Blu-ray includes over 30 minutes of bonus features including a never-before-seen storyline that was cut from the film. In addition to deleted scenes, the director and cast discuss social media (and social behavior disconnected from a device) in "Virtual Intimacy," and in "Seamless Interface" designers take us behind-the-scenes to show how they created a film space that mirrors the screens in which our faces are forever buried.

"Men, Women & Children"
Blu-ray / DVD
Rated R / 119 min.
www.menwomenchildrenmovie.com