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Based on a novel by Billie Letts, a pregnant
17-year-old (Natalie Portman) abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart makes a new life
for herself in rural Oklahoma. Also with Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, James Frain, Joan
Cusack, Dylan Bruno, Sally Field, Keith David, Richard Jones, Mackenzie Fitzgerald, Camryn
Callaway and Shelby Callaway. [1:58]
SEX/NUDITY 4 - Many instances of sexual innuendo (including a reference to
fellatio) and some kissing. We briefly see a clothed man and a woman kiss passionately and
grope each other. A man blows air-kisses at another man during a prison scene. A man and
woman kiss, and we see their faces and a little bit of their bare shoulders as they
presumably have intercourse; we also see their bare backs as they're lying in bed,
post-coitus. A woman tells another about discovering a man sexually abusing a couple of
children; the scene is intense, but she doesn't use graphic language or descriptions. It's
implied a man puts a roll of quarters in the front of his pants (we see a close-up of his
bulging crotch). Also a boy puts money down the front of his pants and it's implied a girl
is going to reach for it before they're interrupted. A boy playfully swats a girl's
buttocks. We see a few women in cleavage and midriff-revealing shirts.
VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - Someone falls onto a train track, gets a bloody facial
cut, and is presumably hit by an oncoming train (we don't see the impact); in a later
scene we see the person lying in a hospital bed with partially amputated legs covered with
a sheet. During a tornado, a woman and a girl are nearly sucked out of a cellar (some
objects in the cellar do fly out the door) and a woman is nearly hit in the head with a
flying object; after the tornado, we see many destroyed houses and learn someone died. In
a bar scene, people punch and hit each other with bottles, then throw bottles at band
members; one of the band members is hit with a chair and knocked to the floor (the scene
is played for laughs). A man throws an object at another's head, then they scuffle and
punch each other (also played for laughs). A woman throws a drink at a man's head,
squeezes his crotch and then punches him. A couple of shoves; a man is pushed onto the
hood of a car and handcuffed. A man jumps through a plate-glass window. A pregnant girl's
water breaks (we see a puddle around her feet), then she holds her stomach, falls on the
floor and screams in pain. We hear things being thrown and broken, then see a man helping
a dazed, ill-looking woman get back into her bed. Reckless driving; cars nearly hit each
other. We see a sheet-covered body being wheeled out of a house. We see a dazed woman with
bloody cuts on her face, and in a later scene her face is still bruised (it's implied a
man beat her).
PROFANITY 5 - One F-word and one derivation, some anatomical references and
slang terms, several scatological references, lots of mild obscenities and an insult. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Teen pregnancy, abandonment, sexual abuse of children,
kidnapping, falling in love, religious devotion and fanaticism, drunkenness, reaching out
to strangers, searching for Mr. Right, coming of age.
MESSAGE - You can overcome a dysfunctional past. You can't let fear and
self-doubt stop you from pursuing the life you want.
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