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.
A cynical young woman (Thora Birch) disappointed with
life's choices and the people she meets, plays a practical joke on a reclusive man (Steve
Buscemi) who lives only for his collection of classic 78s records. The joke has unexpected
results, since it brings the two lonely souls together. Also with Scarlett Johansson, Brad
Renfro, Illeana Douglas, Bob Balaban, Stacey Travis, Charles C. Stevenson Jr., Dave
Sheridan and Tom McGowan. [1:51]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - A young woman and man kiss and lie back on a bed; we cut to
the couple in bed covered by a blanket presumably after having had sex. A man and woman
kiss hello a couple of times. A woman in a tight top exposes her substantial cleavage. A
young woman and man go into an adult book and video store; we see some of the
paraphernalia and magazine covers which show large breasted women. Two young women talk
about sexual frustration and masturbation. We see a bare-chested man, and we see young
women in halter tops and hip huggers and exposed midriffs dancing onstage. Young women are
seen throughout the film wearing mini skirts and tight-fitting tops. Women in fringed
dresses are shown dancing on TV and a young woman imitates them, and a woman in a
tight-fitting knit dress dances in front of a man. A man ogles a woman as she walks away.
We see several rendered posters of buxom women in bikinis. A man makes a reference to
Greeks having invented homosexuality. Two young women hold hands in friendship.
VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - A man threatens a man with a gun. A man with nunchuks
fights with a man with a mop. A man is grabbed around the neck from behind by a man with
nunchuks. A man tries to trash a grocery store (we see him having had success at the end
of the credits). A grocery store owner yells abusively at his employee, as well as
customers, repeatedly. A comment is made about Satanists sacrificing virgins. A young
woman in a head-brace and wheelchair talks about an accident caused by her use of drugs
and alcohol. A short film is shown in a class which depicts a baby doll falling in pieces
into a sink. There is a sketch of a child stabbing a woman in the back, a drawing of a man
hammering another man's head with blood spraying, a stuffed mongoose with a snake wrapped
around it, and we hear a man talking about the best way to get the flesh off a corpse. A
man passes gas in mid-conversation.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 7 - 24 F-words, 4 scatological terms, 8 sexual references, 13
anatomical terms, 16 mild obscenities, 1 religious profanity, 29 religious exclamations,
several racist terms and insults. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Relationships, obsessive collectors, date rape, AIDS,
Satanism, racism and anti-Semitism, psychotherapy, sexual frustration, single parenting,
eccentricities, censorship.
MESSAGE - People change; friendships change.
(Note: There is a discussion about how racism has changed over the years, and how
it has not gone away but instead people have become better at hiding it. A young man
refers to two young women as "a Jew and her Arian friend" and he makes several
other racist remarks.)
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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