As implied by its title, 2017’s 3 Generations takes on a broad scope related to its subjects. Born a female, 16-year-old Ray (Elle Fanning) identifies as a male and has lived that way for years.

Now that he’s older, Ray wants to make this more “formal” and he plans to undergo treatment for full gender reassignment. Due to his underage status, Ray needs signed permission from both parents, so his mother Maggie (Naomi Watts) takes on a quest to locate biological father Craig (Tate Donovan).

All that and a lesbian grandmother (Susan Sarandon) who needs to come with terms with the fact her granddaughter now will be her grandson! Generations comes with a lot of plot threads, any one of which could’ve formed a full narrative in its own right.

Honestly, that approach would’ve made more sense, as the film we get seems scattered and unsatisfying. Generations wants to pack so many elements and developments into its 92 minutes that it can’t remotely hope to adequately service all of them.

As it happens, the movie can’t manage to explore any of its domains, so all three topics get the short shrift. Actually, Generations really only digs into 2.5 subjects, as it doesn’t spend a whole lot of time with Grandma Dolly – she acts more as subtext than as a main plot domain.

Even if we stick with just the Ray and Maggie stories, though, Generations can’t deliver a satisfying character drama. Again, it simply spreads itself too thin and never establishes any form of consistency.

If forced to pick an overall theme, it’d be about how females support each other, but even that fails to emerge as a concise thread. Generations tosses out vague stabs in that direction but it doesn’t coalesce into anything meaningful.

Which leaves Generations as a mess of plot threads in search of direction. It gives us elements connected to the struggles of a single mother and the issues with being a transgendered teen and general “coming of age” topics and more.

Again, any of these could’ve constituted a reasonably solid movie, so the inclusion of so many narrative domains feels desperate. 3 Generations includes a very good cast, but they can’t bring life to their flat characters, so this ends up as a mediocre flop of a drama.

3 Generations appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a good but not great transfer.

Sharpness looked mostly positive. A little softness cropped up during occasional shots, but the majority of the film was fairly accurate and distinctive. I witnessed no shimmering or jaggies, and edge haloes remained absent. As expected, the film lacked any print flaws.

In terms of palette, Generations went with a mix of orange, teal and amber. It didn’t overwhelm us with these choices, but they dominated. Within the stylistic choices, the hues seemed fine. Blacks were deep and tight, and shadows looked smooth and clear. Although the image didn’t dazzle, it seemed satisfactory.

The movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack suited the story. This meant the soundscape accentuated general atmosphere and music but not much else. Street sequences opened up matters but most of the mix seemed pretty restrained. Though the elements added a little breadth, they didn’t have a lot to do.

Audio quality appeared good. Speech seemed distinctive and concise, without roughness or brittleness. Music was warm and full, and effects came across as accurate. This ended up as a serviceable mix for a character tale.

Six Deleted and Extended Scenes fill a total of six minutes, 11 seconds. These tend toward character moments, most of which don’t add much. We do get a little more depth about Ray’s complicated lineage, though, and those moments bring out a little meaning.

The disc opens with ads for Lion, Sing Street and The Founder. No trailer for Generations appears here.

Scattered and poorly developed, 3 Generations wastes a good cast. The movie feels one-sided and fails to deliver a satisfying character piece. The Blu-ray presents mostly positive picture and audio but it lacks significant supplements. This turns into an unsatisfying drama.