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The Music Never Stopped | 2011 | PG | - 2.3.4

Inspired by a true story about a father (J.K. Simmons) that had been estranged from his son (Lou Taylor Pucci) for almost 20 years: After the son suffers from a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories, he and his father rekindle their relationship with the help of a music therapist (Julia Ormond) and "The Grateful Dead." Also with Mia Maestro, Tammy Blanchard, Scott Adsit and Cara Seymour. Directed by Jim Kohlberg. [1:45]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A woman kisses a man on the cheek, he turns his head and they kiss briefly on the lips. A teenage girl and a teenage boy hug. A teenage boy and a teenage girl share a lingering hug.
 A woman asks a man for a hug, the man tells the woman that they could "get in bed," implying sex, and the woman turns him down. A woman tells a man that she cannot sleep in the same bed as the man because she is mad at herself. A man tells another man that, as a teen, he and a teenage girl had "found a way to stay warm," implying sex, and the man says it was their "first time."
 We briefly see an album cover with a small outline drawing of a woman; one of her bare breasts is partially visible under her hair.

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - A woman lifts a bandage from the head of a man, and we see a small line of blood on the bandage and raised stitches on a large cut running over half the length of his head.
 We see a man fall to the ground, clutching his chest; we later see him lying in a hospital bed, an IV in his hand, a monitor hooked up beside him and we learn that he had a minor heart attack. A man and a woman enter a hospital, and they find a man lying on a hospital bed with an IV attached to his hand.
 On multiple occasions we hear a doctor explaining to a man and a woman that another man has a tumor that has caused him to lose his short-term memory and the ability to create new memories. We see a CT scan of a brain and a doctor points to a large portion and remarks that it is a "tumor" and must be removed, and that they will not know the man's progress until after the tumor is removed. A police officer tells a man that another man had fallen off a roof and probably hurt his ankle and should be taken to the hospital; we later hear the man shout in pain as he tries to walk on his injured foot.
 A teenage boy sets an American flag on fire and hands it to another teenage boy who waves it in front of a cheering crowd.
 A man shouts at a teenage boy, shoves a flag toward him and tells him to burn it, and the teenage boy shouts back and runs out of the house. A man shouts at a teenage boy. A woman shouts at a man. A man tells a teenage boy that he had figuratively "spit on him" with his actions.
 A man tells another man about a newspaper article that contained a photograph of a guard executing a prisoner. A man tells another man about a song that was a reference to a newspaper article about a lynching occurring after a carnival. A teen boy tells a man and a woman that meat is made from cows that are brought to the slaughterhouse and decapitated and then slaughtered.
 A woman tells a man that his father had died and we later see them at a funeral with a coffin in front of them. A man tells another man that the man's friend had been killed. A woman tells a man that her brother had been killed. A man tells another man that a member of a band had died. A woman tells a man that another man had suffered from two strokes that left him unable to talk or understand words. A teenage boy tells a man that he and his friends were being sent to a war to die. A man tells a teenage boy that another man had died in a war. A man is told by a police officer that another man had tried to come into the bedroom window of a woman, who called the police. A boy asks a man if Count Bessie bites people like a vampire, and the man laughs and says no. A man and a woman chant a rhyme about babies getting rabies and bad babies being shot and the man remarks that the rhyme is "gruesome."

LANGUAGE 4 - 2 sexual references, 4 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 4 mild obscenities, name-calling (super duper vat of Velveeta cheese fat, pigheaded, square, old coot, old timer), 2 religious profanities, 6 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - We see a man holding two marijuana water bongs in the background at a concert, a man asks if another man's illness was caused by drugs (a doctor says it was not), a man refers to a concert as a "drug convention," and a man jokes with another man that the meaning of a song is different "when you're stoned." A man puts a bottle of wine on a table for dinner. A man is seen smoking a cigarette on one occasion, a burning cigarette is seen in an ashtray beside a man, a man is seen holding a pack of cigarettes, and two teenage boys smoke cigarettes.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Music therapy, estrangement from family, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, bring up old memories, burning the American flag, Vietnam war, brain damage, short term memories, peace rallies, Bob Dylan, confidence, Nixon resignation, Deadheads, forgiveness.

MESSAGE - The love of family will always bring people back together and help through hard times.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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