'DISCONNECT'

'DISCONNECT' (R) (3 STARS)

Written by Andrew Stern
Directed by Henry Alx Rubin
Actors: Jason Bateman, Alexander Skarsgard, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Max Theriot, Colin Ford, Aviad Bernstein, Andrea Riseborough, Jonah Bobo.

"Disconnect" has a very topical story that in these social media times is very effective, scary and sobering. It is a movie full of three interlocking stories that reminded me of the unfairly despised "Crash". It is not as powerful as that blistering drama but it will snap you to reality. The problem is that I found one of the stories here so powerful, engrossing and amazing that the other two stories pale in comparison. The movie should have been about just that one story but I still found "Disconnect" compelling and very good, even excellent when dealing with the more powerful story.

Social media can be a fun thing, it can be informative and it can get you connected with your friends. It can also be evil, vindictive and soul zapping. "Disconnect" can be a very uncomfortable movie sometimes and it is very relevant to true stories that are in our lives now. The three stories deal with a shy and introverted high school boy, a couple dealing with the loss of their child and identity theft and a reporter dangerously getting involved with an 18 year old webcam model. The story dealing with the outcast kid is the most powerful to me and on it's own it is the best movie of the year next to "The Place Beyond The Pines".

The other two stories with the reporter and the couple have been done before and they are not as strongly written as the stronger story. That story is very well acted by Jason Bateman, who can do drama as well as he does comedy, and a rising new powerful actor in Frank Grillo. The child actors playing the kids are exceptional as the young actors in the third section of "Pines" were. I felt for the shy kid in the story who has a cruel facebook prank pulled on him that will emotionally crush many lives. This story is powerful, engrossing and impeccably crafted. When it comes to the other two stories I was lost and not as involved.

I wish the movie focused on the strongest story only but this does not diminish the overall impact of this very compelling and good movie. Just the feeling this whole movie creates about connecting more with people in person instead of on the computer. It wakes us all up to what parents have to do to make sure we take the time to see that our kids and their own lives are being taken control of and not lost to the vast suck hole of social media. It is a dangerous world and the internet can be a cruel place and we have to be more alert, careful and willing to interact face to face. This is what the movie nails down so well. I just wish all the stories had the same power. The story about the couple is less effective and the third story about the reporter, I don't know where that story fits in at all in this movie actually.