Men, Women & Children

Based on Chad Kultgen’s eponymous novel, Men, Women & Children details the exploits of several characters as they’re forced to confront their relationships with technology and each other. Director Jason Reitman hews very closely to Kultgen’s (far superior) 2011 book, with the filmmaker, at the outset, effectively capturing the source material’s specific tone and atmosphere (ie it’s often quite reminiscent of Tom Perrotta’s body of work, Little Children especially). It’s just as clear, however, that Reitman’s inability to satisfactorily develop and flesh out the narrative’s multitude of characters becomes more and more problematic as time progresses, and the viewer is, to an increasingly dismaying degree, simply unable to work up any real interest in or sympathy for the protagonists’ respective exploits and dilemmas. The arms-length atmosphere is compounded by Reitman’s decision to employ as subdued a vibe as one could envision, with the performances, as a result, unable to provide the spark or electricity that might’ve raised the proceedings out of its palpable doldrums. (Adam Sandler, cast as a sexually frustrated husband, delivers one of the most lifeless and charisma-free performances of his career here.) And although Reitman offers up a handful of emotional moments in the film’s final stretch, Men, Women & Children‘s pervasive ineffectiveness drains such moments of their power and impact – which ultimately does confirm the movie’s place as a rare misfire from an otherwise reliable filmmaker.

** out of ****