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.
Kieran Culkin stars as Igby Slocumb, an irreverent 17-year-old, who's at war with the world of money and
privilege he was born into: His father (Bill Pullman) is schizophrenic, his mother (Susan Sarandon) totally egocentric, and his big
brother (Ryan Phillippe) dedicated to the ideas and practices of predatory capitalism. After flunking prep school and escaping military
academy, he runs away to NY where he figures he can find a better life. Also with Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum and Amanda Peet. [1:38]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - A young man takes off his pants, lies in bed and a woman climbs on top of him and begins to have sex with
him; we see her bare back and she thrusts rhythmically while pulling on his shirt. A young man and a woman kiss, lie back on the floor
kissing, and we then see them in bed together rolling around (we see his bare chest). A man caresses a woman's hair and face and they
kiss. A young man and a woman sleep together. A man sits on a chair with his pants around his ankles and we see his boxer shorts; it is
suggested that a woman has just performed oral sex. A young man and a woman kiss a couple of times. A woman shaves her armpits in a mirror
and we see her bare breasts. We see a man's bare buttocks when he stands nude at a dinner table. We see a young man bare-chested a couple
of times and in his underwear. A woman sits on a toilet with her panties and stockings around her knees (we see her bare hip). A young man
admires a woman who wears a dress that exposes her bare back and stocking-covered thighs. A woman flirts with a young man and gives him
her phone number. A woman wears a nightgown that exposes some cleavage. A reference is made to someone having "compromising photos of a
priest with an altar boy." We see a man who is dressed like a woman.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Two young men sit on the bed of a woman who sleeps with labored breathing, then place a plastic bag over
her head until she stops breathing (we later see this scene again and watch a young man feed a woman yogurt that has apparently been laced
with poison). A young man is awakened, a pillowcase is put over his head and he is taken to a group shower stall where he is repeatedly
poked in the stomach with broom handles. A young man punches and pounds on a woman's corpse. A man punches a young man in the face and
then pounds on him when he falls to the floor (we see his bloody and bruised eye, nose and mouth). A woman punches a young man, knocks him
to the ground and beats on him (we see his bloody nose). A man has anpsychotic episode as his young son watches: he gets into a
shower in his pajamas, yells, screams, pounds on the glass door and breaks it (we see shards of blood-covered glass on the floor and his
very bloody hand). We see a woman's body being zipped into a body bag. A woman lies unconscious after apparently having taken a bad batch
of drugs, and a woman passes out in a bathtub apparently high on something. We see a woman sitting on the head of her maid while she
reviews her expectations. A man hits a young man on the head, twice. A woman hits her son with her gloves, yells at him and drags him down
a hallway. A young man pounds on a door with his fist and his head and yells. A young man talks about a gun back-firing and blowing into
the face of its user, and a young man talks about another young man having jumped off a roof and his head "popping open" when he hit the
ground. A young man tears the head off a teddy bear and stuffs it with pills. We hear that a woman is very ill and dying and hear her
vomit a few times, and a young man prepares to urinate in a toilet. A young man is hit on the head by keys tossed from a window. Two young
women wrestle on the ground over a field hockey disagreement. A young man throws water balloons off a roof top and people on the street
yell at him. A young man knocks a glass onto the floor and it breaks.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 8 - 33 F-words (one is mouthed), 1 sexual reference, 9 scatological terms, 8 anatomical terms, 3 mild obscenities,
1 religious profanity, 9 religious exclamations, 2 derogatory terms for young Jewish women. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Dysfunctional families, military academies, crucifixion, schizophrenia, hypocrisy, narcissism,
nymphomania, adoption, resentment, mental breakdowns, fascism, Republicanism, Darwinism, infidelity, Anne Frank, the Peace Corps, George
Orwell, irony.
MESSAGE - Everyone should be allowed to find his or her own way to happiness.
(Note: People are shown drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, cigarettes, clove cigarettes and cigars, taking prescription drugs,
and one woman has tracks on her arm from shooting up. A woman rolls a joint and then begins to smoke it. We see a man in a drug-induced
stupor while in a mental institution. A young man is employed as a drug courier.)
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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