You ever have a friend ask to use your smart phone to text someone because their smart phone had run out of power? What did you do? If you were like me then you pulled out your phone, opened the text message app, tapped on “new message”, asked for the phone number, typed it in for them, and then handed them the phone while hoping that they handed it back as soon as they pressed “send”. Because the last thing any of us want is for the people we know to rummage through our text messages and see who we really are. This is why I am intrigued by the new Jason Reitman film ‘Men, Women and Children,’ which seems to be about the secret lives we lead in virtual space.
The first trailer, appropriately void of dialogue in favor of online and textual interactions, is a dark look at what’s to befall his cast of characters — and potentially the rest of us — in the internet age.
Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, Jennifer Garner, up-and-comer Ansel Elgort (‘The Fault in Our Stars‘) and more populate the incredible cast that is ‘Men, Women and Children.’ Paramount describes it as an attempt “to stare down social issues such as video game culture, anorexia, infidelity, fame hunting, and the proliferation of illicit material on the internet.” [ScreenCrush]
I’d like to be one of those people who looked at this trailer and said “fu*k this bullsh*t, it’s just playing on old people’s fear of technology.” They’d have a point, but I must admit that some of the drama that I have experienced in the virtual world has most definitely manifested itself in the physical one. It was only a couple years ago that I realized that internet dating wasn’t a scam, and actually a very effective way to meet ladies. Cyber-bullying, cyber-cheating, cyber-betraying – all of these things have become so ubiquitous that we can pretty much just drop the “cyber” from in front of them. The trailer makes me curious about what direction they take the cyber-drama. Adam Sandler looking for hookers online definitely intrigues me. Not because I’ve ever done that (swearsies. You know I’d tell you if I did) but because it reminds me of his character in Punch-Drunk Love which is one of my all time favorite movies. Looking forward to seeing another trailer for this, perhaps with some dialogue.
Wish Phillip Seymour Hoffman was still around so he could be in this. :(