Movies

New York News Local News Blog Michael Musto Nat Hentoff Archives Search Weekly Newsletter Get Mobile

ARCHIVES 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

New York Events Top Picks Submit an Event Events Newsletter Get Mobile Entertainment Ads Free Will Astrology Tickets Brooklyn Pour 2013

New York Music Music Blog Concert Calendar Pazz & Jop New York Nightlife Submit an Event Music Newsletter Get Mobile NYC 4Knots Music Fest

ARCHIVES 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

New York Restaurants Food Blog Find a Restaurant Happy Hours Deals Choice Streets Dining Newsletter Get Mobile Restaurant Ads

ARCHIVES 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

New York Arts New York Theater Arts Newsletter Get Mobile Entertainment Ads Obie Awards Books Dance Art

ARCHIVES 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

New York Movies Showtimes Film Poll Trailers Film Festivals Podcast Film Newsletter Repertory Film Get Mobile Free Stuff

Things to do in New York Readers Poll 2012 2011 2010 2009 Best Of Newsletter Get Mobile Best Of Ads

New York Promotions Promotional Events Street Team Free Stuff Promotions Newsletter Get Mobile Deals Web Awards Brooklyn Pour Tickets

New York Classifieds Post an Ad Virtual Career Fair Advertiser Index Deals Deals Newsletter After Dark

Top

film

Stories

"Gravity"

By Stephanie Zacharek
"The Dirties"

By Zachary Wigon
'Jacques Demy'

By John Oursler
"Gravity"

By Voice Staff
"Concussion"

By Melissa Anderson
"Don Jon"

By Stephanie Zacharek
"Unacceptable Levels"

By Chris Klimek
"Out in the Dark"

By Alan Scherstuhl

Disconnect Plays on a Compendium of Contemporary Fears

A A A Comments (0) By Alan Scherstuhl Friday, Apr 12 2013

Identity theft! Cyber bullying! Runaway teens doing lurid cam shows! This ambitious, multi-storied, state-of-us-all ensemble drama plumbs our fears of the plugged-in now more stridently than local news in TV sweeps. While well-crafted and at times moving, screenwriter Andrew Stern's cautionary tales can't help but feel behind the curve, the news they're so urgently sharing already fully absorbed by the culture. They still build some power, especially the central story of a misfit teen (Jonah Bobo) getting catfished by a couple of bullies—and then the inevitable shame of a 15-year-old's nude pix getting shared all over his high school. With tenderness and economy, Stern and director Henry-Alex Rubin humanize all parties, especially the bullies and the father of the poor, pranked kid; this story accumulates serious weight and vitality. That dad is played by Jason Bateman, who proves adept at drama, although it's little surprise when this distracted, suit-and-tie middle-management type winds up in a hopeless brawl on a suburban lawn, as that's in the cards for all Jason Bateman characters. A less involving thread involves TV news reporter (Andrea Riseborough) getting too close to a male runaway (Max Thieriot) who masturbates on webcam. Then there's the long-soured married couple whose accounts get drained via the usual cyber-pilferers—this family seems to have the same do-nothing, plot-advancing credit card company Bateman had in Identity Thief. That said, one of their moments resonates: husband and wife (Paula Patton and Alexander Skarsgård), each with the other's Internet history laid bare, finally coming to see each other. Disconnect might play better a decade from now, when it's more clearly a compendium of contemporary fears rather than some dire expression of them.