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.
The fourth film in Barry Levinson's coming-of-age
series set in 1950s Baltimore follows two Jewish brothers (Adrien Brody and Ben Foster)
who experience anti-Semitism and fall for "forbidden" girls: a WASP debutante
and an African-American. Also with Orlando Jones, Bebe Neuwirth, Joe Mantegna, Rebekah
Johnson, David Krumholtz, Richard Kline, Vincent Guastaferro, Justin Chambers, Carolyn
Murphy, James Pickens Jr., Anthony Anderson, Frania Rubinek and Kiersten Warren. [2:07]
SEX/NUDITY 6 - Lots of sexual innuendo, including a reference to fellatio
and discussions of human and animal penis sizes. Some kisses; we see a couple kissing
passionately in a car and briefly see a boy and girl kissing passionately on a bed. We see
a wet spot on the crotch of a boy's pants, implying that he ejaculated when a girl
briefly touched his leg. While a boy is sitting on the floor of a car, he stares at a
girl's bare legs and sees part of her slip. In several scenes taking place in a
burlesque theater, we see scantily clad women dance suggestively and begin stripping; in
two scenes we briefly see a woman's bare buttocks and in another we see a topless
woman with tassels on her breasts. Outside a burlesque theater we see posters of scantily
clad women.
VIOLENCE/GORE 2 - A scuffle and a fistfight with several punches in the
stomach and face. Men yell and need to be restrained from hitting each other. Reckless
driving; we see a boy drive his car through a garage door (he gets a very small bloody
facial cut). A boy with a bruised, cut face and bandages on his arm is seen in a hospital
bed. Two instances of threatening with guns. We hear a girl vomit.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 6 - About 3 F-words, lots of anatomical references and slang
terms, lots of scatological references, lots of mild obscenities, some insults and several
racial epithets. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Being Jewish, anti-Semitism, racism, discovering one's
sexuality, discovering people and ideas outside of your "world," falling in
love, gambling rackets, burlesque shows, abduction, courage.
MESSAGE - Your youth is a memorable time marked by discovery, curiosity,
disappointment, hope and innocence lost.
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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