Unlike the MPAA we do not assign
one
inscrutable rating based on age, but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY, VIOLENCE/GORE
and PROFANITY on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest,
depending on quantity and context.
In exchange for selling his soul to the Devil (Elizabeth
Hurley), a geeky guy (Brendan Fraser) is granted seven wishes, most of which involve
winning over his dream girl (Frances O'Connor). Also with Gabriel Casseus, Orlando Jones
and Rudolf Martin. [1:30]
SEX/NUDITY 6 - Many instances of sexual innuendo (including references to
multiple-partner sex and prostitution) and a few kisses. A couple of discussions about the
size of a man's genitalia, one of which takes place in a men's locker room: a female
reporter says many double entendres while often looking at a man's crotch (he's wearing a
short towel, with his bare chest and most of his bare legs visible), and when he
accidentally opens his towel it's implied that she sees his genitalia (we see nothing but
her surprised reaction and his flustered reaction). A clothed man adjusts his genitals
conspicuously at the beginning of one scene. While staring passionately into each other's
eyes, a man tells a woman about how sensitive our skin is and then lists, among other
things, two specific male and female parts of genitalia (in clinical terms) that are also
quite sensitive. A man picks up a woman and carries her to the foot of a bed, where they
are stopped from doing anything further by a person who's already in the bed. A woman
pushes a man into a chair, straddles him and kisses him passionately. A woman standing
behind a man caresses his cheek, whispers into his ear and briefly kisses his cheek. A
woman grabs a man's clothed buttocks. A shirtless man wakes up in bed next to a woman in a
nightgown (nothing sexual is implied). A woman wears a cleavage-revealing top in nearly
every scene she's in; in one scene she also wears a very short skirt while teaching a
classroom of boys, and in another scene she's wears a dress with a very high slit (at one
point we glimpse the front of her panties). We also see a woman wearing a bikini; many
women in a dance club wearing cleavage-revealing tops; some bare-chested men and what
appears to be a topless woman covering her breasts with her arms while in a hot tub; a
woman wearing a towel (she opens it briefly, but we don't see anything); a woman wearing a
short, somewhat transparent robe (we see part of her panties); several cheerleaders
wearing midriff-revealing tops; a man's bare shoulders as he sits in a hot tub; a
billboard of a woman wearing a backless dress that also reveals a partial side of her
breast; and a painting of two nude figures (one's bare backside is visible and the other's
leg and stomach are visible).
VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - Nearly all played for laughs. In one scene lots of gunfire
is exchanged and a large explosion causes three people to fly through the air. A person
jumps onto a helicopter and dangles from it while it's flying, then falls off and lands --
in a different scene -- on the hood of car (the person is slightly dazed but otherwise
fine). A man in a fiery Hell is roared at by a large devil and is nearly smashed with a
large pitchfork (he grabs onto the pitchfork and then falls backwards into a fiery pit,
but he's not injured). A woman yells at a man and throws several things at him, a man is
hit in the head with a falling object, a man is dragged from a building in handcuffs, a
woman shoves a man through a door, a man grabs another's shirt and pushes him, a man swats
another with a horse whip, a huge contract drops into man's lap, a man rips off part of
his mustache (we see pink flesh on his upper lip, but no blood), a man kicks sand in
another's face several times, and a basketball player breaks a backboard (we see the
shattered glass falling on him, but he's not cut). A person is threatened with a gun. A
person throws a flaming drink into a convertible car and catches it on fire. A person
causes traffic lights to fail, resulting in many cars crashing into each other at an
intersection. A car is driven recklessly and several people are nearly hit. A man sweats
profusely in one scene (water pours down his face, and he spits some onto a person he's
talking to). A glimpse what looks like a video of surgery playing on a large screen in a
dance club (we see a close-up of a pulsating, somewhat bloody body part).
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 3 - Possibly one anatomical reference (it's barely audible), a
scatological reference, many mild obscenities, a religious obscenity, a couple of insults,
and a profane finger gesture. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - The Devil, selling one's soul to the Devil, Devil vs.
God, selflessness, social ineptness, self-acceptance, being obsessed with someone,
homosexual stereotypes, infidelity, drug manufacturing and drug use (in one scene we see a
man smoking marijuana, and in the next scene we see a drug factory with large amounts of
cocaine inside; we also see a man in the factory who has cocaine around his nostrils and
on his upper lip).
MESSAGE - Accept your life as it is rather than wish it away; be careful
what you wish for.
A CAVEAT: We've gone through several editorial changes since we
started covering films in 1992 and some of our early standards were
not as stringent as they are now. We therefore need to revisit many
older reviews, especially those written prior to 1998 or so; please
keep this in mind if you're consulting a review from that period.
While we plan to revisit and correct older reviews our resources are
limited and it is a slow, time-consuming process.
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