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Around the Bend | 2004 | R | - 4.5.6

When a man (Michael Caine) dies he leaves his surviving family members -- his son (Christopher Walken), his grandson (Josh Lucas) and his great grandson (Jonah Bobo) -- a map and instructions for how he wants his ashes to be distributed. Thus, they embark on a journey that takes them through painful memories of their lives and brings them closer together and more in touch with themselves. Also with Glenne Headly. Directed by: Jordan Roberts. [1:25]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - A man talks fondly, a couple of times, of having made love to a woman on a rock. A woman invites a man to join her in her bed (they are clothed and watch a movie together, although it is suggested later that they had sex). Two men and a boy talk about sex fantasies: the boy describes a girl kissing him, and one man talks about a woman nude in the back seat of her mother's car. An elderly man says that he was aroused by his nurse. An elderly man ogles a woman sleeping.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A horror movie on TV shows a person being sliced in half (we see the two body pieces separate, we see blood and other matter and hear a woman screaming). A man slumped over a table lies motionless and we understand that he has died (a young boy is nearby and witnessed the man's death). A dog lying on a bench takes a labored breath and dies. A man riding in a truck dies (he sort of drifts off). We hear that a boy was thrown down a flight of stairs and injured his leg. A man yells at his dog abusively, yanks on his leash and ties him into the back of a truck. A man reads a story about a person being disemboweled. Two men yell at each other. People sprinkle the ashes of a man and his dog in several places (one time over the grave of a woman). A man talks about his mother dying in a car accident. A man talks about his wife having died. We see a human skull in a room with artifacts scattered around. We see a mounted boar's head with large teeth hanging on a wall. A man talks about his father leaving him when he was young. The false teeth of a man hang from his car's rear view mirror. We hear a man vomiting. Two men and a boy urinate on the side of a road.

LANGUAGE 6 - 12 F-words, 7 sexual references, 6 scatological terms, 9 anatomical terms, 4 mild obscenities, 6 religious profanities, 4 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - People are shown smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol and we hear that a man was a drug addict.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Family, relationships, forgiveness, truth, honesty, legacies, fathers abandoning their families, death of a father, death of a spouse, kidney disease, divorce, drug addiction, physical abuse, grief, sorrow.

MESSAGE - Family is important no matter at what stage of life you may be.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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