A group of high school teenagers and their parents attempt to navigate the many ways the Internet has changed their relationships, their communication, their self-image, and their love lives.
Reitman’s topical and melancholy drama is commendably ambitious. But its OTT plotting and alarmist tone make it a Reefer Madness for the Instagram generation.
A new film, but the themes are old and tired.
Both heavy-handed and ham-fisted, this is a self-important morality tale where you can see everyone's uppance coming long before it arrives.
The film mostly resorts to look-how-crazy-this-is handwringing.
A film that takes itself very seriously, it could surely have benefitted from some of the ironic humour found in earlier Reitman movies such as Juno and Up in the Air.
It's an exaggerated portrait of an atomised society, and it isn't as incisive, truthful – or as playful – as Reitman's earlier, better films.
Apathy, pain, boredom and lives of quiet desperation are all covered in an ambitious film that seesaws uncomfortably between soap opera, satire and heavy–handed moralising.
A movie that really engages with web use still eludes us. In the meantime, this engaging black-comic sketch will do.
Top marks go to young leads Ansel Elgort and Kaitlyn Dever, who manage to create their own believable world within the mawkish miasma of this flawed movie.
General release. Check local listings for show times.