Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A hard-working lawyer, attached to his cell phone, can't find the time to communicate with his family. An estranged couple uses the internet as a means to escape from their lifeless marriage. A widowed ex-cop struggles to raise a mischievous son who cyber-bullies a classmate. An ambitious journalist sees a career-making story in a teen that performs on an adult-only site. They are strangers, neighbors and colleagues and their stories collide as ordinary people struggling to connect in today's wired world.
Disconnect is a competent multi-strand drama in the vein of Crash or Traffic, weaving together several storylines around technology's role in modern isolation. The ensemble cast — including Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, and Alexander Skarsgård — delivers solid, earnest performances that elevate somewhat familiar material. Cinematography is workmanlike but occasionally achieves emotional resonance. However, the interconnected-strangers format was already well-worn by 2013, and the film's thematic messaging about digital disconnection is delivered with a heavy hand, limiting its novelty. The ending, while emotionally satisfying in parts, feels slightly overwrought across its multiple threads. A well-made but ultimately conventional prestige drama.