The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (Columbia)
Brainless and disastrously distasteful sequel to the 1999 comedy "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" which finds the doltish fish-tank-cleaner-turned-male prostitute (Rob Schneider) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he must solve the murders of Europe's top gigolos to clear the name of his friend and former pimp (Eddie Griffin) implicated in the crimes. Directed by Mike Bigelow, the much raunchier follow-up wallows in juvenile sexual and scatological sight gags that succeed in lowering the already rock-bottom bar set by the original. Pervasive sexual and gross-out humor, some partial frontal nudity and comic violence, comical treatment of physical and mental disabilities, and drug content, as well as much rough and crude language and profanity. Ratings: O (R)
Four Brothers (Paramount)
Excessively violent revenge drama directed by John Singleton about four street toughs --- two white (Mark Wahlberg and Garrett Hedlund) and two black (Andre Benjamin and Tyrese Gibson) --- raised as foster brothers who return home to Detroit to avenge the brutal murder of their saintly adoptive mother. Despite believable performances and chemistry, the quartet is wholly unsympathetic (save for Benjamin) and their thuggish eye-for-an-eye tactics have little to do with true justice and undermine the shaky narrative's emotional drama. Recurring strong violence and gore, vengeful killings, vigilantism, a sexual encounter, some crass sexual humor, fleeting rear shower nudity, pervasive raw language and profanity. Ratings: O (R)
Pretty Persuasion (Samuel Goldwyn)
Dark-edged satire about a maliciously manipulative 15-year-old (Evan Rachel Wood) who recruits two classmates (Elisabeth Harnois and Adi Schnall) in accusing one of their high school teachers (Ron Livingston) of sexual misconduct, entangling all involved in a web of deceit that has tragic consequences. Despite an impressive performance by his Lolitaish lead, director Marcos Siega's cynical, mean-spirited and unjustifiably raunchy revenge tale has pretensions of social commentary but lacks any sympathetic characters and seems content to shock rather than offer any real insights on the issues explored. Recurring sexual situations, including suggested sodomy and oral sex between minors, and, in one case, between a teenage girl and an adult woman; masturbation; a suicide; brief drug content; same-sex kissing; excessive explicit sexual language; and some profanity, ethnic slurs and lewd humor. Ratings: O (no MPAA rating)
The Skeleton Key (Universal)
Minor but effective hokum about a hospice care worker (Kate Hudson) hired to take care of a dying man (John Hurt) in a creepy Louisiana mansion, under the eye of a suspiciously protective wife (Gena Rowlands) and a slick estate lawyer (Peter Sarsgaard), as voodoo, curses and spells abound. Director Iain Softley's throwback to a fairly old-fashioned kind of horror film is often predictable, and some of the dialogue is laughable, though the cast gets points for playing it so straight. Intense suspense, violence including a blurred recreation of a mob lynching, mild profanity, scattered crude language, recurring occult elements and brief partial nudity. Ratings: A-III (PG-13) |