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.
Steven Spielberg film, ostensibly based on true events, about con man extraordinaire Frank Abagnale, Jr.
(played by Leonardo DiCaprio) who worked as a doctor, a lawyer and as a co-pilot for a major airline before he was even 18. A master of
deception and an excellent forger, he was also a bank robber and acquired over $4 million by passing bad checks. Tom Hanks co-stars as FBI
Agent Carl Hanratty who's made it his principal mission to capture Frank and bring him to justice. Also with Jennifer Garner, Martin Sheen
and Christopher Walken. [2:20]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - A man and a woman have sex: we see him thrusting on top of her, dishes fall off a table, we hear her crying
out and moaning, and we see her bare shoulders. A man and a young woman kiss passionately, she climbs on top of him in a chair and they
kiss and moan. A man and a young woman lie in bed together (he's bare-chested and she's in her underwear). A man and a woman kiss in a few
scenes, and a young woman kisses a man's face. A woman takes her gloves off with her teeth, trying to seduce a man. A man flirts with a
woman and touches her clothed breast. We see a man and a woman kissing through a window. Two men (on two different occasions) come out of
a woman's bedroom (it is suggested that they have been intimate). We see many women around a swimming pool in bikinis, and young women are
shown in hip-huggers and bra-tops. Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage, and women wear evening gowns that reveal bare
shoulders and cleavage. Women admire a young man as he walks by. A woman and a man dance romantically. A man talks about dressing as a
woman when undercover. A young woman talks about having had an abortion.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A young boy in a hospital emergency room has a very bloody leg wound, we hear him moaning in pain, see a
bloody hole in his leg, and a man vomits after looking at it. A man holds a gun to a man's head as he crawls away, and several men hold
guns on a man. A man learns of his father's death. A man walks through a hallway with his gun drawn, barges into a room and points the gun
at a man. Three men kick down an office door and go in with their guns drawn. A boy is shoved by another boy into a locker. A man coughs
violently until he gags, and a man passes out. A man climbs through the toilet of an airplane while chasing a man. A young man suffers
when he must choose which parent he will go with after a divorce. A man is shackled to a table by the ankles. A man is pulled off a bar;
he's unconscious from drinking too much. A man is locked in solitary confinement for many years.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 5 - 1 F-word, 1 sexual reference, 2 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 9 mild obscenities, 7 religious
profanities, 4 religious exclamations. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Confidence games, false identities, the FBI, the IRS, fraud, forgery, father/son relationships,
bankruptcy, divorce, infidelity, child custody, abortion, humiliation, death of a parent.
MESSAGE - With style and panache you can fool everybody -- well, almost everybody.
(Note: People are shown smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, sometimes to the point of inebriation.)
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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