Men, Women & Children (2014)

Critics hated, but Jack and I did not, this ensemble story of the internet's impact on human relationships of teenagers and adults in a Texas town. Out of the huge cast the standouts are Rosemarie DeWitt, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Kaitlyn Dever, and Ansel Elgort. DeWitt (last blogged in Promised Land) and Adam Sandler (most recently in these pages for his Razzie nominations for That's My Boy (2012), Jack & Jill (2011), and Just Go with It) play an unsatisfied couple, Garner (last in Draft Day) plays a horribly controlling mom, Dever (during the whole movie I was sure she was the girl from Homeland--look at the pictures--one, two--and see if you agree) her good daughter who doesn't deserve the psychopathic scrutiny, Greer (most recently in Jeff, Who Lives at Home) the well-meaning but dumbly permissive mother of Olivia Crocicchia (last in Palo Alto), and Dean Norris (Hank the DEA brother-in-law on Breaking Bad) the befuddled dad who can't figure out why his son, played by Elgort, has quit the football team, or, for that matter, why his wife left them. Elena Kampouris also does a nice job as the anorexic kid, as does Travis Trope (I've just seen his first episode in a series arc on his season of Boardwalk Empire) as DeWitt and Sandler's son. Dennis Haysbert (profiled in Dear White People) has a nice cameo in a few well-shot scenes with DeWitt.

Director Jason Reitman (last helmed Labor Day) and Erin Cressida Wilson (Chloe) adapted the 2011 novel by Chad Kultgen (credited for the story in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone). Wikipedia says that Kutlgen has been vilified for his writing being sex-obsessed, which makes me wonder how true this movie is to the original book. There's some sex obsession, but it doesn't permeate the entire picture. One thing the author got right that the movie doesn't is the use of the Oxford comma (it goes before the word "and" in any series of more than two things) in its title Men, Women, and Children.

I don't remember much about the soundtrack (no composer is listed), but on this link you can read the names of the songs and hear clips if you click the play arrow on the album cover.

Here are the awful Rotten Tomatoes reviews--29% critics, 53 audiences. This is definitely not the first movie you should see nowadays (Oscar season has officially begun), but it has plenty to recommend it if you happen upon it after its DVD release in January.