Men, Women & Children

Several families in a small Texas town, and the internet. A couple opens an account on Ashley Madison, a teenager disappears into games, a mother reads every message her daughter sends. Jason Reitman directed, from Chad Kultgen's novel. Emma Thompson narrates from the point of view of the Voyager probe, so humanity's phone use is observed from space. Timothée Chalamet made his film debut here. The result was the hardest turn in Reitman's career. Against a 16 million dollar budget it grossed only 2.2 million and was named among the worst wide-release openings. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 33 percent; one critic wrote that it played like a spoof, and the consensus attacked Reitman's overbearing approach to his themes. Who it is for: viewers who want a document of 2010s technology anxiety. As a period record it is genuinely interesting now. Who it is not for: anyone wanting nuance. In every storyline the internet is directly at fault and no character is left to make their own decision.