Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Men, Women & Children Blu-ray Movie Review

Essentially, everyone.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 8, 2015

The Social Network depicted the origins of Facebook and, really, the social media boom. Men, Women & Children looks at the consequences of high technology, instant connectivity, anonymity, and the digital lifestyle that today sees people glued to screens, closer to one another and a world of information yet also detached from reality, at least until one's real life finds its way online or one's digital existence seeps into the real world, a meshing that's virtually inevitable given any sort of online interconnectivity or step out into the sunlight. It's that meshing of the two that's the film's overt focus. Its more subtle, but still very much involved, subtext ponders the greater question of man's significance in the cosmos and whether, really, who slept with who, what level one's avatar may be in an online game, or a few lewd pictures are really all that significant beyond one's own little social bubble, which more often than not is a bubble of one. To quote The Terminator, "in 100 years, who's gonna care?" Maybe better put, "in one hundred billion galaxies, does it really matter?"

Step away from the computer and breathe.

The film follows the lives of several middle class adults and teenagers whose lives center around the digital universe. Don (Adam Sandler) and his wife Helen (Rosemarie DeWitt) have grown distant. He surfs the web for pornography, and she puts up a profile on a dating site that encourages cheating. Their son Chris (Travis Tope) is himself hopelessly addicted to Internet pornography and finds he cannot operate, sexually, without it. Kent's (Dean Norris) life falls into chaos when his wife leaves him and his son, a star football player named Tim (Ansel Elgort), quits the team so he can focus on his online gaming. Hannah (Olivia Crocicchia) is an aspiring actress who, with her mother Donna's (Judy Greer) help, erotically poses behind her website's paywall. Patricia (Jennifer Garner) lives only to censor her daughter Brandy's (Kaitlyn Dever) digital dealings.

Just think of all the talking, texting, sexting, twerking, and totally cute cat videos out there, floating through the digital airwaves and defining what it means to be human in 2015. Go mankind! Men, Women & Children looks at pretty much every sort of online addiction outside of gambling and largely ignores the positives of the digital age, focusing instead on things like one's craving for easy celebrity status, access to pornography, the ease of finding an adulterous relationship, badmouthing friends behind their backs (and sometimes out in the open if there's enough digital muscle behind them), online gaming addiction, and so on and so forth. It even takes a look at overzealous online promotion and, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, censorship, trying to, ultimately, prove the validity of a middle ground whereby one's digital footprint is neither too big nor too small. Every character represents some sort of prevailing online stereotype, often to some high level of external success -- the film is filled with terrific actors all performing admirably -- but without much depth. The movie builds itself through the portrayal of individual journeys through the digital age while trying to piece together a tangible idea of what it means to operate in it and the consequences of bringing it into the real world. The picture predictably culminates with most every character undergoing some sort of real-life transformation, but the human side of the equation feels reduced to predictable withdrawal and regret rather than coming up with some answer to the digital obsession.

The film ultimately suffers from overzealousness, forcefully manipulating characters to extreme circumstances to make a point that's not at all filtered or even all that profound. The film is, frankly, far too poetic in its effort to demonstrate that what matters to one doesn't mean squat to someone else, thanks in large part to voiceover narration that at one point sounds like something from a sequel to Idiocracy and later turns into a soliloquy about the cosmos. Certainly it strikes a fire in the mind, leaving the audience pondering some of the greater questions out there, but only because they're force-fed rather than subtly or purposefully weaved into the story. It's too much exposure and not enough meaningful maneuvering, a shame because the movie can be enlightening and entertaining in chunks, even if that means it's largely uneven in tone whereby it's a borderline sex comedy one minute and a virtual philosophy class the next. Then again, maybe that's the point; the digital life is messy and intrusive and unbalanced. Where else can one be reading about quantum mechanics on one side of the screen and find ads promising "one insanely easy trick to pay off your mortgage!" and "Russian singles want YOU!" ads on the other. The picture certainly means well, and it enjoys strong pacing and some quality performances. Yet it feels fairly empty even as it tries to find meaning. In essence, Men, Women & Children promotes an excellent topic for cinema exploration that's not given the polished, purposeful treatment it deserves up on the screen, feeling more like a time stamp rather than a timely exploration of the digitized human condition.

Men, Women & Children Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Men, Women & Children features a flattering 1080p transfer. The image is crisply defined, not only live footage but also all of the many Internet-style graphical overlays that appear throughout the film. Text, there, is legible and sharp, edge lines appear straight, and definition proves accurate. Likewise, the 1080p presentation reveals nicely defined textures throughout the film, from basics like skin and clothes to odds and ends and backdrops around houses, out on a football field, or inside a school cafeteria. Colors are rich and consistently so, appearing natural and pleasing across the entire palette. Black levels are sufficiently deep and pure while flesh tones present no major pushes from normal. Though the image isn't flashy, it's technically sound and attractive in its own right.

Men, Women & Children Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Men, Women & Children's sound requirements aren't great. The DTS-HD Master Audio track, then, handles these basic needs with commendable ease and accuracy. At the film's outset, the audience is enveloped by a virtual smorgasbord of sound, mostly in the form of chattery individuals speaking in a number of languages. The effect flows around the stage and represents the most involved element in the film. Light background din is pleasantly involved but not realistically transparent in environments like a school hallway and a mall. Dialogue delivery is crisp and firm with effortless center delivery. The spoken word accounts for most of the track's needs. Overall, this is a very basic presentation that's delivered with commendable efficiency and accuracy on Blu-ray.

Men, Women & Children Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Men, Women & Children contains several extras. A UV/iTunes digital copy code is included in the Blu-ray case.

• Virtual Intimacy (1080p, 13:29): Cast and crew discuss the story's themes of the digital life versus real life, living in the virtual age, sexuality in the digital age, online negative reinforcement, the consequences of online overexposure, parental supervision of the online life, online infidelity, and the movie's purpose as a reflection of today's society.
• Seamless Interface (1080p, 8:29): Visual Effects Supervisor Gareth Smith examines the making of the on-screen representations of the virtual world that are littered throughout the film.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Additional Storyline Brooke and Danny (6:36), A Date (1:11), Just a Man (0:51), Phone Drop-Off (0:32), and Whatever You Want (0:38).

Men, Women & Children Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If one thing remains true about mankind -- beyond death and taxes, of course -- it's that things always change. A shout in the dark has become a painting inside a cave has become a message in a bottle has become a letter in the mail has become a call on a phone has become a text on a device. It's all a means of communications, but also a way of looking for answers, seeking a purpose, trying to discover what matters and why. Men, Women & Children simply takes today's answers to the human condition and looks at the benefits and follies (mostly the follies), the personal ups and downs that might devastate a person or a group but that really don't matter across town, across the country, around the world, and certainly far beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere, unless, of course, Miley has twerked again or the Royals are having another baby. The film is interestingly established but fairly predictable in delivery, focusing on a collage of one-dimensional characters who do little more than maneuver through some social/digital experience. The film is a bit too blunt and lacking in meaningful ramifications. It's probably destined to be little more than a humorous time capsule-like glimpse back at a time when man was really nuts for a technological fad or as a representation of the moment in time when it all started to come tumbling down into a horrifying world in the style of Idiocracy. But then nobody's going to care, anyway, and probably won't be able to watch the movie because there won't be anyone smart enough to keep the electricity on. Paramount's Blu-ray release of Men, Women & Children features upper-tier video and audio. A few supplements round out a fairly basic package. Recommended if only because the movie gives its audience something to think about while texting friends after a screening.