MPAA Rating: R

In Martin Scorsese's latest New York drama, Nicolas Cage plays an ambulance driver on the all-night "graveyard" shift. After five years on the job, he finds himself both numbed and haunted by the horrors of such depressing work. With Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony, Bart DeFinna, Mary Beth Hurt and Aida Turturro. [2:00]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - We see a man lying in bed with a woman (both are completely clothed). A man's injury looks like an erect metal phallus when he's lying on a stretcher. In a blurry shot taken from a distance, we see the side of a man who appears to be naked (we also see a glimpse of what might be pubic hair). We see a man lying on the street with his pants down to his thighs (the side of his bare hip and upper thigh are visible), a man wearing underwear while lying in bed, two naked newborn babies, a few scantily-clad prostitutes and a few shirtless men.

VIOLENCE/GORE 9 - A man falls off a balcony and lands on a wrought iron fence; one of the posts impales his midsection. A man is shot in the chest and is seen lying in a puddle of blood (his shirt is also drenched with blood); his shirt is taken off and we see the bloody bullet wound. A man's face and hair are covered with blood after he repeatedly cuts himself with a broken bottle (we don't see him actually cut himself); he shakes his head and splatters blood onto others. We see a man pale and unconscious from a drug overdose. A man performs euthanasia by taking an unconscious man off life-support. A heart-attack victim is revived by being shocked with defibrillator paddles. We see two bloody newborn babies; one looks dead and ends up dying. An anti-abortion protestor holds a fake fetus covered with blood. In two different scenes, we see a bloody corpse lying in a pool of blood; we also see two non-bloody corpses in a hospital. We see scars on the wrists of a person who tried to commit suicide. Numerous shots of people in an emergency room, some of whom are a bit bloody and in pain; also, a few flashback scenes of dead people. We see a legless man crawling across a street. A man beats another man with a baseball bat and two men smash car windows with baseball bats. A few scuffles. An ambulance crashes into another car and flips over but no one is seriously hurt (one man cuts on his forehead).

PROFANITY 8 - About 33 F-words, a few anatomical references, several scatological references and some mild obscenities and insults. [profanity glossary]

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Suicide, abortion, childbirth, prostitution, paramedics, trauma, hospitals, death, drugs, depression, alcoholism, insomnia, madness.

MESSAGE - We need to offer and accept sympathy, because life is often way too unpleasant without it.

Special Keywords: S4 - V9 - P8 - MPAAR