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.
John Cusack plays a recently jilted, thirtysomething record
store owner who seeks closure on his past relationships and insight into his murky future.
Based on a novel by Nick Hornby. Also with Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black, Lisa
Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins, Lili Taylor, Joelle Carter, Sara
Gilbert, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Rehmann and Ben Carr. [1:53]
SEX/NUDITY 6 - Lots of sexual innuendo and several kisses, sometimes
passionate. A man imagines (and we see on the screen) a close-up of a man's hand running
up the side of a woman's bare thigh and buttocks, a shirtless man standing in back of a
topless woman and fondling her breasts (his hands completely cover her breasts) and a
bare-backed woman straddling and thrusting into a man who's standing (their moans and
movements are exaggerated and played for laughs). Some scenes in which a man and woman are
either pre- or post-coitus but the act isn't seen: a couple of times a man and woman kiss
passionately (either in bed or elsewhere), a shirtless man is seen in bed with a woman,
and a woman straddles a man in the front seat of a car and kisses him passionately. We
hear a bed squeaking, implying that a couple is having intercourse. In one scene we see
many teenagers kissing at a party; during the scene a boy touches a girl's clothed breasts
and puts his hand up her skirt, but she pushes his hand away. A man moves his hips
rhythmically and pretends as if he's fondling a woman's breasts and spanking her. A woman
takes off her shirt and her bra (we see, from the back, the bottom part of her bare
breast). We see some women wearing cleavage-revealing tops, a small part of a man's upper
buttocks when he bends over in too-small pants and a man and woman wrapped in sheets.
VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - In a dream sequence played for laughs, a man is punched
and kicked repeatedly by three men and hit in the head with a phone and a TV (we see blood
on his face). A man grabs another and shoves him against a rack, a man slaps another and
grabs his shirt, a man rips posters off a wall, a man falls over a counter and a man falls
over a fence. A skateboarder runs into a man's leg and the man then swings at him with a
bag. We see a small explosion in a high school chemistry class (no one is injured).
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 10 - About 55 F-words, lots of anatomical references, many
scatological references, a couple of mild obscenities, several insults and a profane
finger gesture. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Romantic relationships, failed relationships, cheating, the
impact music can have on our lives, the music industry, death of a loved one, abortion.
MESSAGE - At some point you have to accept and commit to the realities of a
relationship and stop comparing it to and expecting it to be a fantasy relationship.
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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