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.
Damon Dash directs this tongue-in-cheek look behind the scenes of a hip-hop record company, and the gossip mongering that pulled it apart: A young journalist starts following two music moguls around to get some inside dirt and ends up writing an article for a tabloid newspaper that starts a rivalry between the partners. With Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Devon Aoki, Chloë Sevigny, Capone and Robert Stapleton. [1:33]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - We see on a computer screen a bare breasted woman lying down and moving rhythmically, and we hear her moaning and panting. ► A man is introduced to a woman, he seems enraptured, he moans, thrusts his hips toward her, and she hugs him. A man imagines dancing with a woman, she leans over him and asks if there is someplace they can be alone, he moans and imagines her crawling onto a bed. A man, bare-chested and in shorts, dances with a woman in a thong bikini (we see cleavage, bare buttocks and bare abdomen and legs), and he thrusts his hips toward her. A man makes a sexual remark and thrusts his hips forward. ► A man in long boxers stands on a ledge above several women in bikinis (we see cleavage, bare abdomens and part of bare buttocks are visible); they all dance, the man pours champagne over them and the camera focuses on the breasts of one woman. A man lifts a woman up, she wraps her legs around his waist and they dance together. A woman wraps her arms around a man's neck, another walks along with him holding his arm (she wears a dress that is cut to the belly button and has laces across the front revealing
her cleavage and bare abdomen). Two women make sexual gestures with their tongues. ► Women walk along a stage in a fashion show wearing bra tops and short skirts (revealing cleavage, bare abdomens and bare thighs). Many women wear tiny bikinis at a pool party/cookout. A woman wears a very short top and very low-cut pants revealing her bare abdomen to the hip, a woman wears very short shorts that reveal part of her bare buttocks, and a woman wears a short dress that reveals cleavage and bare thighs. Many women wear low-cut dresses that reveal varying amounts of cleavage, bare abdomens, bare shoulders and backs throughout the movie. ► Men and women kiss in several scenes. A man and a woman snuggle and hug and two men and a woman hug and kiss on the cheeks. ► A woman tells a man that she has the "VTs" and defines that as a part of her body "tingles." A limo driver tells his passenger that someone "...had sex on that very seat." A man moves his lips while looking at a woman and subtitles read, "I will have you..." A man asks another man if he is still having sex with a woman. A man says about a woman, "She's got a thing for me." A man talks about his Viagra wearing off. A woman's pants appear to be stuffed with padding.
the review continues below...
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A crowd gathers around a man, people argue and yell, someone yells "he's got a gun," we hear gun shots, hear the crowd screaming, and people run and a man is taken away in an ambulance (we see this scene twice). Several women on a stage fire guns in the air. ► A man punches a man in the nose (we see blood on his face), and then another man punches him in the face and he falls on the floor. A man walks along a street, he is surrounded by four other men, he is afraid that they are going to rob him, they yell at him, one comes close to his face with a lit cigarillo, one grabs his ear, we hear cartoon punching noises and see the man lying on the sidewalk after apparently being beaten up. Four men crowd around and shove a man in an elevator, one man stomps on his foot, we hear cartoon punching noises and see the man curled up on the floor of the elevator. ► People yell at each other in many scenes throughout the movie, and a man confronts another man in front of a crowd of people. A woman grabs a man and threatens to hit him and a woman threatens to punch a man in the back of the neck. ► We hear a man coughing and saying that he has a hole in his lung and that he has two kids who almost lost their daddy (he was the victim of a shooting). We are told that a man lost his hair and genitals in a street fight. A written line reads "kill whitey."
PROFANITY 10 - 167 F-words and its derivatives, 1 obscene hand gesture, 8 sexual references, 66 scatological terms, 62 anatomical terms, 30 mild obscenities, name-calling (dork, fat, big, retarded), 23 derogatory terms for African-Americans, 2 derogatory terms for Caucasians, 4 derogatory terms for women, 10 religious profanities, 2 religious exclamations. [profanity glossary]
SUBSTANCE USE - Three people smoke what is presumably marijuana from a bong and several people smoke a large marijuana cigarette. People are shown holding and drinking from bottles of alcohol throughout the movie. Many people drink alcohol at a pool party/cookout. Many people hold glasses of alcohol at a party and many are seen drinking. People drink wine at a restaurant in a few scenes, and people hold glasses of champagne while dancing in several scenes. A couple of men smoke cigarettes in many scenes, another man smokes a cigarillo, and another man smokes cigarettes. A man smokes a cigar and talks about his Viagra wearing off.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Hip-hop, the music industry, greed, journalism and tabloid journalism, gossip, scams, family, fame, success, treating a business like a family, jealousy, racism, fate, respect, disrespect, communication, blame, guilt, independence.
MESSAGE - Gossip can tear down even the most successful business.
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.
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limited and it is a slow, time-consuming process.
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