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.
Somber drama chronicling the life of Astrid (Alison Lohman), a young teenager who's struggling to come to
terms with living without a stable, loving family. Astrid is forced through a series of foster homes after her mother (Michelle Pfeiffer)
goes to prison for committing a crime of passion. Also with Patrick Fugit, Noah Wyle and Robin Wright. [1:49]
SEX/NUDITY 4 - We hear a woman moaning and banging on a wall suggesting that she and a man are having sex. A man in a robe
opens a door and a woman goes into the house: it is implied that the man and woman have sex but nothing is shown. We see a couple making
out in the background in a party scene. A man and woman kiss and hug, and a teenage boy and girl kiss and hug a few times. An older man
touches a teenage girl's face tenderly (it is suggested that they had sex, but we see nothing else). A woman and two teenage girls are
shown in a dressing room in their underwear (the woman wears a thong) exposing cleavage, bare abdomens and buttocks. A woman wears
skin-tight outfits that reveal cleavage, her bare back and shoulders in many scenes. A woman wears a leather halter-top (revealing
cleavage and bare abdomen) and a mini-skirt (revealing thighs). A woman wears a slinky negligee, a woman wears an oversized shirt that is
unbuttoned to show cleavage and her bare abdomen, and a teenage girl wears tank tops that reveal cleavage. A man is shown bare-chested.
There is some sexual innuendo: A woman talks about having been an exotic dancer, a woman accuses a teenage girl of trying to take away the
man in her life, a teenage daughter asks her mother if a man spent the night, and a woman says a man is "getting what he wants from
somebody else." A woman tells her daughter that she and a man had sex, a woman says that her daughter is "hormonal," a woman says she's
busy "fighting off sexual advances" in prison, and a woman tells her teenage daughter that the relationship she had with her father was a
"sexual" one.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A woman threatens a teenage girl with a gun, then shoots her in the shoulder; we see blood on her
shirtsleeve and see a scar in later scenes. A man pounds on a window breaking it (while yelling that he is going to kill the woman inside)
and a woman opens a switchblade knife and cuts his hand (we see this scene a few times and we see some blood on the man's hand). A teenage girl
puts a knife to the throat of another girl and threatens her. Two teenage girls fight with shoving, yelling and name-calling (one ends up
with a bruised eye and a split lip). A teenage girl finds a woman dead from an overdose, she tries to revive her and screams and yells in
anger. A woman tells her teenage daughter that she "wanted to throw her against a wall." Loud pounding awakens a girl who sees her mother
struggling against police who take her away. A woman yells at her daughter abusively, tries to hit her and the daughter threatens her
mother. Men and woman argue bitterly in many scenes. A woman has a bruised eye and cheek apparently from a beating in prison. A movie on
TV shows a woman being killed by a man with a chainsaw (it cuts away just before we see anything). A teenage boy talks about having been
born addicted to heroin. A teenage girl cuts her hair with a knife. A woman says, "tell him I was killed..." We see fires
burning in the mountains near homes.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 5 - 1 F-word, 5 sexual references (1 in Spanish, not translated), 3 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 6 mild
obscenities, 3 religious profanities, 6 religious exclamations. [profanity glossary]
MESSAGE - It's better to know what is true than to believe in what feels good. Don't forget who you are.
(Note: People are shown smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. It is suggested that one character has a drinking problem and has
had a drug problem. A character yells at her daughter for accepting Christianity and her daughter tells her that "thinking for yourself is
evil." A foster child is shown pregnant and we hear that she has had two other babies.)
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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