From my perspective, the point of the entire film was to show us how complex human behaviour and communication really is, especially after the internet. It shows briefly how our actions have consequences and it's a film for both parents and teenagers to watch and relate to, and maybe comprehend that we all struggle sometimes, making it important to ask for help. It screams at the audience that communication is key, therefore getting its message across, but it could have explored some plotlines a little bit more, making it a bit clearer.

The Internet in itself is neither good nor bad; it's how it's used that matters… Reitman tries to tackle the matter of how technology is retarding the way we relate to one another by… OBSESSING over the way technology is retarding the way we relate to one another! He's the same type of shut-in; he's just stressing over the negatives rather than using the benefits to his advantage. By focusing so intently on little issues, he's making these problems out to be much worse than they are in reality, and demonizing and legitimising outlying cases.

He's just a little more sensible than Garner's 'overprotective mum' character, in that he understands that you can't put the genie back in the bottle and guard against EVERYTHING - but disappointingly, he seems just as pessimistic about future consequences.

It's hysterical paranoia from someone who usually strives to be such a balanced film-maker… "Reefer Madness" for the digital age. A work that can only be viewed as laughable is the end result.

Not one of the characters in the film has a positive outcome from their dealings with technology… It's a depressingly Luddite and reactionary film for something that was released in 2014, no matter how much he tries to jazz it up and make it feel modern by getting the Interfaces right and representing 'movement' through text in little tiny boxes! (annoying for those with poor eyesight, BTW - you constantly need to keep a look out for website addresses and abbreviated texts materialising all over the screen!)

It devolves a sophisticated and complex world, into so much alarmist shrieking. Reitman's previous work led me to expect something much more assured - and darn it, perceptive - than what we're left with.

MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN (2014) ** Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Timothee Chalamet, Olivia Crocicchia, Katilyn Deve, Ansel Elgort, Kathernie C. Hughes, Elena Kampouris, Will Peltz, Travis Tope, David Denman, Dennis Haysbert, JK Simmons, Phil LaMarr; (Narration: Emma Thompson) Jason Reitman's awkward attempt to dramatize the effect of 'plugging in' to the tech savvy world of interpersonal communication (texting, social media etc.) fumbles with its overkill screenplay by his collaborators, Chad Kultgen and Erin Cressida Wilson with borderline caricature characters (to wit: prudish momma bear Garner is a laughing-stock scold who monitors her poor teenage daughter Deve to the point of fascist madness and the flip-side of Greer as the enabling mother of sexually advancing offspring Crocicchia by taking provocative photographs for their website) and eye-rolling dialogue and teeth-grinding unnecessarily distant (literally) narration by snooty Thompson nearly capsizes this otherwise well-acted cautionary tale of porn addiction, affairs, and bullying in high school that the similar DISCONNECT did two years earlier with similar half-hearted effect.