For a director like Jason Reitman, who in the past has been so innately in touch with how human connection works (the nuanced Up In the Air and insightful Thank You For Smoking demonstrate his expertise), to make a movie so out of touch, out of date, and overbearing is, frankly, baffling. I don’t understand how his latest effort, Men, Women & Children, came from the same guy that made Juno, a film whose characters felt so grounded and earnest.

Men, Women & Children is an ensemble film about how the internet has reduced all of us to half-awake iPeople and mutated the way we communicate. With an array of cardboard characters and relationships it sends a message: The internet is totally messing with our brains, man! Sadly, everything about the film is sorely behind the times, telling us little about ourselves we don’t already know. If this were the year 2000, Reitman would have had a thought-provoking, prophetic cautionary tale on his hands; In the year 2014, he comes off as naive as his clueless characters do.

The film opens pleasantly enough, with voiceover narration by Emma Thompson accompanying an image of the Voyager I spacecraft, the furthest man-made object from earth, hurtling toward the edge of the solar system. Then the film zooms in on the “pale blue dot” we call home, introducing us to its multiple characters. You know how in almost all zombie movies, it’s an unspoken rule that the characters live in a world where zombie movies don’t exist? Men, Women & Children is similar in that its characters seem to be just discovering the wonders of the internet, despite it being 20-effing-14.

Adam Sandler plays Don, whose marriage to Helen (Roemarie DeWitt) has grown stale, as many do. With the house empty, he grabs his tissues and hunkers down in front of his computer to masturbate. Ahhh…masturbation; the ultimate bandaid for marital-malaise. Or is it? Frustrated by his malware-infected PC, he walks over to his son Chris’ (Travis Tope) room to use his. There, he discovers an online escort agency and sets up a meeting with one of the girls. Helen is no victim in the situation, though–she’s been experimenting with “affair” website Ashley Madison behind his back.

When you strip away the fact that Don and Helen found their affairs online, all that’s left is a story we’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of times before: An unhappy couple cheats on each other. Considering the film’s premise, shouldn’t we be presented some new kind of perspective on this scenario? The infidelity is the focus here, and unique repercussions of the digital element are nowhere to be found. They may as well have used carrier pigeons instead of a mouse and keyboard.

By a mile, the best relationship in the movie is between a teenage ex-football star named Tim (Ansel Elgort) and a reclusive, quiet girl, Brandy (Kaitlyn Dever). Tim left football to hang out with friends he made in his favorite online role-playing game, which consequently lost him all his high school friends. His mom left he and his dad Kent (Dean Norris) to move to California with another man, and ever since Kent’s been trying hard to understand why his son would give up football (the only interest they used to share). Feeling isolated and alone, he’s drawn to Brandy, who’s in a similar rut. Her mom Patricia (Jennifer Garner) goes to borderline psycho lengths to monitor her every move, tracking everything Brandy does online and deleting “dangerous” messages before she can read them. In each other, Tim and Brandy find a respite from a world that doesn’t understand them. A scene in which the outcasts lay together in front of a waterfall at night is the film’s most touching.

The mother-daughter relationship between Brandy and Patricia, like the Don-Helen plot, illuminates nothing new about internet evils. Just because the tightly-wound Patricia uses technology to be overprotective doesn’t change the fact that, for storytelling purposes, she’s simply an overprotective mother and nothing more. Everyone in this film is so one-dimensional, their trajectories so predictable and clichéd. Judy Greer, for example, plays a mom who takes risqué photos of her snooty daughter Hannah (Olivia Crocicchia) and posts them online, a sleazy parenting move that may ruin Hannah’s chances of landing a spot on an American Idol-esque talent competition. The fact that Greer’s character is genuinely surprised that the TV show executives find her daughter’s site questionable is absurd. Again, maybe 15 years ago this story line would make sense, but we’ve come way too far since then.

One thing the film has going for it are some key, good performances, most notably from Sandler. As Don you can see him bearing the weight of his unfulfilled life on his shoulders, often zoning out and staring off at nothing as his wife and son move around him. There’s an honesty to the performance that makes you wish he’d venture into the dramatic arena more often instead of churning out family movie schlock. Elgort and Dever are excellent as well, imbuing their thinly-written parts with real heart.

At least Reitman hasn’t lost his ambition–Men, Women & Children is a huge, intricately woven film that at least attempts to say something profound about the current digital-obsessed landscape. His message may be out of date, but maybe someday, years from now, we’ll look back on this movie fondly, as a time capsule of how foolish we once were to let online nonsense muck everything up so bad.

Men, Women & Children trailer

As far as film festivals go, The Mill Valley Film Festival is a uniquely soul-soothing affair. I’ve covered a fair amount of festivals since I started here at Way Too Indie, and they’re typically full of head-spinning commotion (especially when celebrity guests are involved), but it’s hard to get flustered when you’re surrounded by the gentle, towering redwoods and verdant scenery of Mill Valley.

When the festival’s Opening Night special guests, The Homesman‘s Hilary Swank and Men, Women & Children‘s Jason Reitman, arrived on the red carpet that sat under a beautiful acorn tree, the atmosphere was calm and breezy. Swank noticed immediately: “Well, this is different!”

Home on the Range, Graves in the Dirt

Following her photo op on the red carpet at the beautiful Outdoor Art Club, Swank crossed the street to the Sequoia Theater to introduce The Homesman to a packed house of eager festival-goers. As festival Executive Director Mark Fishkin welcomed Swank to the front of the room, he gushed about how he and his festival programmers saw the film at Cannes and decided they absolutely must showcase the film at the 37th iteration of the festival. Lo and behold, here they were.

A look at the dark side of mid-19th-century frontier America, The Homesman, directed by and co-starring Tommy Lee Jones, sees a stalwart, strong-willed pioneer woman called Cuddy (Swank) partner with a madman claim jumper named Briggs (Jones) to escort three mentally-ill women from Nebraska to Iowa in a sturdy wagon. The premise is straightforward enough, and the film delivers on the expectations of a trek-across-the-frontier Western, but the film’s third act takes a pleasantly unexpected turn that will leave you reeling and disturbed. Oscar talk surrounding Swank is deserved; her physically tough, emotionally vulnerable performance is terrific and one of her best. Jones’ painterly imagery is at times jaw-dropping, though his turn as Briggs isn’t as revelatory as Swank’s.

The film’s most intriguing element is its subtle messaging about gender roles, particularly those of women. Cuddy has money in the bank, owns land, works hard in the fields, and can sing a fine tune. The tragedy is, she can’t find a man to marry her. Hell, she can’t even pay a man to marry her, which she tries to early in the film. Despite her virtues and the townsfolk praising her as “as good as any man”, she’s just not any man’s idea of wife material. “Plain as a tin bucket”, Briggs calls her. The real tragedy is how women still deal with the same gender inequity today.

Intimacy in the Internet Age

At a press conference held prior to the screening of his new film Men, Women & Children, director Jason Reitman dispelled the notion that the film was about anything other than human connection in the digital age. “The film doesn’t deal with social media,” Reitman said. “It deals more with the way we text and the way we search the web. There are plot lines devoted to Ashley Madison; There are not plot lines devoted to Facebook.”

A sprawling cautionary tale about the evils of the internet, Men, Women & Children examines the ways in which the internet affects the way we connect as human beings. From a married couple who get their kicks on romance sites (Adam Sandler and Rosemarie DeWitt); to a teenager who quit football to hang out with his friends on an online role-playing game (Ansel Elgort); to a mother who goes to scary lengths to monitor her daughter (Jennifer Garner), the spectrum of sad stories is exhaustive. It all becomes a bit overbearing, though: Though the actors in the ensemble cast are wonderful and turn in good work, the characters are too simply-drawn to connect with on a deep level, ironically. This is an honest depiction of the dangers of the digital age, just not a compelling one.

Out on the Town (Center)

After a full night of screenings (which also included Lynn Shelton’s Laggies, which I missed because I have yet to acquire my dream superpower of splitting myself in two), the crowds drove over to Town Center Corte Madera a few miles away for the sparkling Opening Night Gala. There was delicious food (the ridiculous, giant wheel of grana padano cheese was my highlight) and booze, and some bangin’ bluegrass jams from local outfit The Brothers Comatose. I brought my wife with me (always nice to prove to her I’m not as uncool as I appear), and we had a rollicking good time meeting with friends and talking about how disturbing The Homesman was. If you’re in the Bay Area in the next 10 days, come out to Mill Valley and say hello. I’ll be at the movies. (Or at the Mayflower Pub down the road in San Rafael, depending on my mood.)

The Mill Valley Film Festival has built a reputation as a showcase for future Oscar winners and emergent independent and foreign filmmakers. The festival has hosted five of the last six Best Picture Oscar winners, rolling out the red carpet for A-list actors and filmmakers while heavily supporting local filmmakers as well. Nestled in one of the most beautiful places in the world, filmmakers, actors, and attendees alike are drawn to Mill Valley every year by the easy, low-stress atmosphere, the gorgeous surroundings, the varied special events and, of course, the films. In its 37th year, the festival looks to deliver everything loyal festival-goers expect and more.

“Variety has said once–probably more than once–that Mill Valley has the ambience of a destination festival and the clout of an urban festival,” said festival founder and director Mark Fishkin at yesterday’s press conference. “Change” is one of the themes of this year’s festival, with the folks behind the festival embracing the evolving landscape of film and film distribution. Said Fishkin: “For us, change is inevitable, but we are still part of a special division of the film industry, which is theatrical exhibition. We take our role as curators very seriously, whether it’s films that are coming from the Bay Area or films coming from Cannes.”

The Homesman

Tommy Lee Jones‘ latest offering, The Homesman, will open the festival, with star Hilary Swank set to attend. The film is a Western, following a claim jumper (Jones) and a young woman (Swank) as they escort three insane woman through the treacherous frontier between Nebraska and Iowa. Fishkin describes it as a “feminist Western” that is “extremely moving. We’re just so proud to be showing it in this year’s festival.”

Co-headlining opening night is Men, Women, & Children, Jason Reitman‘s new film starring Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, and Jennifer Garner that explores the strange effect the internet age has on parents and their teens. Reitman will be in attendance to present. Lynn Shelton‘s Laggies will also play opening night, completing the killer triple-threat. The film, about a woman stuck in slacker adolescence, stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Keira Knightley, and Sam Rockwell.

The festival looks to finish as strong as it started, with Jean-Marc Valée‘s follow-up to Dallas Buyers Club, spiritual quest movie Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed, who embarked on a 1,100-mile hike to heal deep emotional wounds. Laura Dern also stars, and will be honored with a tribute.

French favorite Juliette Binoche stars across Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria. Binoche plays an actress who’s asked to return to a play that made her famous 20 years ago, but this time in an older role, forcing her to reflect on the young woman she once was and what she’s become since. Another French actress who can do no wrong, Marion Cotillard is outstanding in the Dardenne brothers’ new film, Two Days, One Night. Recalling the best of Italian neorealism, the film follows a woman who’s got a weekend to convince her co-workers to forego their bonuses to save her job.

The Theory of Everything

Two emerging young actors will be spotlighted as Eddie Redmayne and Elle Fanning will be in attendance to discuss their respective new films. Fanning stars in Low Down, which views the troubled life of jazz pianist Joe Albany (John Hawkes) from the perspective of his teenage daughter (Fanning). Set in the ’70s, the film also stars Glenn Close, Peter Dinklage, and Lena Headey. In a breakout performance, Redmayne portrays legendary physicist Stephen Hawking in the stirring biopic The Theory of Everything, which is quickly generating momentum on the festival circuit.

Several other films that have been building steam on the festival circuit will play at the festival as well. English landscape painter J. M. W. Turner is played brilliantly by Timothy Spall in Mike Leigh‘s Mr. Turner, which we loved at Cannes. Also portraying a significant real-life figure is Benedict Cumberbatch, who stars in The Imitation Game, the story of English mathematician Alan Turing and his groundbreaking intelligence work during World War II. Steve Carell‘s highly-anticipated turn in Foxcatcher as John Du Pont, the man who shot olympic great David Schultz, will surely continue to stir up Oscar talk as the film plays late in the festival. Robert Downey Jr. stars as a big city lawyer who returns home to defend his father (Robert Duvall), the town judge, who is suspected of murder.

Metallica is set to play a pleasantly unexpected role in the festival as his year’s artist in residence, with each of the four members of the band presenting a film. Drummer Lars Ulrich has naturally chosen to highlight Whiplash, Damien Chazelle‘s drama about a young aspiring drummer and his relentless instructor. Chazelle will also be in attendance. Lead singer James Hetfield has chosen to present a classic, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, while guitarist Kirk Hammett, one of the world’s foremost horror aficionados, will offer up Dracula vs. Frankenstein. Bassist Robert Trujillo is showing a sneak peek at a documentary he produced himself, Jaco, which tells the story of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius.

On the local side of things is a special screening of Soul of a Banquet, a documentary by filmmaker Wayne Wang  about celebrity chef Cecilia Chang. Wang and Chang, who both have deep San Francisco Bay Area roots, will be in attendance to celebrate their storied careers and present their film collaboration. Chuck Workman, another Bay Area legend who’s best known for editing the clip reels at the Oscars, will be honored at the festival as well.

There’s little to be heard in the trailer for the latest feature film from writer/director Jason Reitman outside of The Plaintain’s hazy cover of the Donna Summer disco classic “I Feel Love.” Men, Women & Children fades between shots of the film’s leading men, women and teenagers attached to their modern tech devices. iPhone chat bubbles, album artwork, and streaming video chats hang above the heads of Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, and The Fault in Our Stars‘ Ansel Elgort. Also starring are Kaitlyn Dever, Judy Greer, Rosemarie DeWitt, and frequent Reitman-collaborator J.K. Simmons.

Paramount recently announced the film will land a limited theatrical release on October 3rd, before expanding wider October 17th. The news makes Men, Women & Children yet another potential awards contender opening (at least partially) on October 17th. That weekend, the new Reitman feature will go up against the Brad Pitt war drama Fury (after Sony moved the picture’s release up from November 14th), Birdman and Camp X-Ray (both in limited release), as well as Kill the Messenger (which like MW&C, expands on the 17th). Holdovers like David Fincher‘s Gone Girl, the Robert Downey Jr.-lead The Judge, and Whiplash will still likely be in theaters for what might turn out to be a very enjoyable October at the movies.

Watch Men, Women & Children trailer