[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  Disconnect opens today in limited release.]

Modern technology has radically changed the way we interact socially. Go stand in a line, and I guarantee at least a few people will have whipped out their smartphones and are happily ignoring the world around them. We don’t call anymore; we text as if that were the same as a discussion. As author, psychologist, and MIT professor Sherry Turkle recently noted in a New York Times editorial this past April, “we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.” Henry Alex Rubin‘s Disconnect ignores this contemporary issue, and sacrifices worthwhile social commentary for mere cautionary tales. Disconnect has all the dramatic weight of a driver’s education video, but then pads its thin plots with three loosely-connected narratives, two of which feature character actions so ludicrous that the movie becomes almost completely disconnected from reality.

Modern technology has radically changed the way we interact socially.  Go stand in a line, and I guarantee at least a few people will have whipped out their smartphones and are happily ignoring the world around them.  We don’t call anymore; we text as if that were the same as a discussion.  As author, psychologist, and MIT professor Sherry Turkle recently noted in a New York Times editorial this past April, “we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.”  Henry Alex Rubin‘s Disconnect ignores this contemporary issue, and sacrifices worthwhile social commentary for mere cautionary tales.  Disconnect has all the dramatic weight of a driver’s education video, but then pads its thin plots with three loosely-connected narratives, two of which feature character actions so ludicrous that the movie becomes almost completely disconnected from reality.

Actress Paula Patton landed a breakthrough role with her performance in Precious and now she’s hopped onto another indie drama with Henry Alex Rubin’s Disconnect.  Deadline reports that Patton will join Alexander Skarsgard, Andrea Riseborough, Frank Grillo, Michael Nyqvist, Colin Ford, and Jason Bateman in the Andrew Stern-scripted drama.  The plot revolves around “disparate lives that intertwine as the digital technologies intended to bring people closer together push families further apart.”  I hope the movie is 90 minutes of a parent telling their child, “No cell phones at the dinner table.”

Hit the jump for more details on the film and why I’m dreading it despite the strong cast.  Patton will next be seen in theaters this December in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

A quartet of actors have signed on for Henry Alex Rubin’s indie internet-centered drama Disconnect. Variety reports that Alexander Skarsgard (Battleship), Michael Nyqvist (the Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Frank Grillo (Warrior) and Colin Ford (We Bought a Zoo) are all attached to star in the flick, with Andrea Riseborough (Never Let Me Go) circling one of the lead roles. Rubin, who’s best known for directing the documentary Murderball, is making his feature directorial debut with the ensemble drama that centers on how the Internet and modern communication impacts, and sometimes ruins, the lives of its characters. Hit the jump for a rundown of how the evil internet influences each character.