From the ArcaMax Publishing, Family Film Reviews Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/familyfilms/s-502870-243570
"Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail" (PG-13, 1 hr.,
43 min.)
Tyler Perry's tried-and-true formula for raucous family comedies that
preach responsibility runs out of steam in "Madea Goes to Jail." Teen
audiences may yawn during the first hour, in which melodrama overtakes
comedy as Perry heavy-handedly sets up the plot so Madea can get
thrown in jail, where she will help a troubled young woman (Keshia
Knight Pulliam) face life with renewed courage. Though his co-stars
(Perry always plays the battle-ax Madea himself) are prominent pros
(Derek Luke, Viola Davis, Pulliam), his script, based on his stage
play, is very unwieldy.
By today's standards, the movie is a middle-of-the-road PG-13. It
includes a prostitution theme, an implied rape, other violence against
women -- none of it portrayed graphically -- and verbal discussion of
a long-ago gang rape at a frat party. A prospective boss demands sex
from a job applicant and gets kneed in the crotch (off-screen). There
is sexual innuendo about women in prison, mild profanity, a racial
slur, liquor and cigarettes. Madea's cellmate is a giggling convicted
serial killer.
Ignoring her pious daughter Cora's (Tamela J. Mann) entreaties to mend
her ways, Madea continues her driving violations, assaults on police
officers and other public, occasionally armed, scuffles. She finally
has the book thrown at her by an unsympathetic judge (TV's Judge Greg
Mathis). Meanwhile, on the film's other plot path (Madea disappears
for long stretches), we meet a kind-hearted assistant district
attorney, Joshua (Luke), who tries to help Candace (Pulliam), a
drug-addicted prostitute he knew in college before her life went
south. Both Joshua and a minister (Davis), who works with women on the
streets and in prison, have trouble reaching Candace. Joshua's snooty
fiancee Linda (Ion Overman), also an assistant DA, jealously
disapproves of his efforts. You want to see how Madea will talk some
sense into Candace in prison, but it's like serving a life sentence
waiting for that to happen.
Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various
ages
-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:
"Coraline" PG -- Director Henry Selick's stop-motion animated
film, a dazzling work of imagination, is exciting fare for kids 8 and
older who love scary-funny fairy tales. Yet easily spooked children as
old as 12 may find the second half upsetting. After all, it's about a
little girl who enters a menacing through-the-looking-glass world and
nearly loses her parents. Coraline (voice of Dakota Fanning) lives in
a ramshackle apartment house with eccentric tenants. Her parents (Teri
Hatcher and John Hodgman), both writers, have no time for her. One
night, she follows mice through a little door and into a place that
looks like home, but much cheerier -- except Other Mother and Other
Father have buttons for eyes. She must escape this surreal world,
where a metallic spider chases kids and things transform in odd ways.
The film has a few crass words and lady acrobats wear scanty costumes.
It ends happily. See it in 3-D if possible.
"The Pink Panther 2" PG -- This movie will tickle those who
love pure silliness, and it's a vast improvement over Steve Martin's
dreary first attempt ("The Pink Panther," PG, 2006) to update the
Inspector Clouseau comedies of the 1960s and '70s. The bumbling Paris
cop joins a team investigating high-profile thefts. In a lovely
sequence, Clouseau skulks outside a mansion, his pratfalls captured
soundlessly on security cameras in a nod to silent film comics. He
also tumbles off the pope's balcony, dressed in papal robes, yet the
scene seems inoffensive. There is much semi-bawdy sexual innuendo,
some of it verbal ("foreplay") and some of it focusing on cleavages
and derrieres. There are mild ethnic insults.
-- OK FOR KIDS 10 AND OLDER:
"Confessions of a Shopaholic" PG -- The credit-card-maxing
habits of Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher), the dizzy, addicted shopper
of the title, are amusing to watch. Then the pallid romantic plot
kicks in, and the comedy congeals. Luke (Hugh Dancy), the cute editor
of a finance magazine, hires Rebecca to write about saving money. He's
unaware of her $16,000 credit-card debt or that her friend (excellent
Krysten Ritter) has enrolled her in a 12-step program for shopaholics.
Likely to entertain kids (mostly girls) 10 and older, the film (based
on novels by Sophie Kinsella) shows that spending more than you have
is bad, yet it still revels in the designer clothes Rebecca buys.
There is mild sexual innuendo and characters get drunk.
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail" (NEW) -- Tyler Perry's
tried-and-true formula for raucous family comedies that preach
responsibility runs out of steam this time. Teen audiences may yawn,
as melodrama drowns out comedy in the first hour of this unwieldy
film, based on Perry's stage play. A midrange PG-13, it includes a
prostitution theme, an implied rape and other violence against women,
none of it very graphic. There is talk of a long-ago gang rape at a
frat party. A boss demands sex from a job applicant and gets kneed in
the crotch (off-screen). There is sexual innuendo about women in
prison, mild profanity, a racial slur, liquor and cigarettes. Madea's
cellmate is a giggling serial killer. Madea continues her driving
violations, assaults on police and occasionally armed scuffles. An
unsympathetic judge (TV's Judge Greg Mathis) gives her a tough
sentence. On the other plot path, we meet a nice assistant
district attorney, Joshua (Derek Luke), who tries to help Candace
(Keshia Knight Pulliam), a drug-addicted prostitute he knew in college
before her life went bad. His fiancee Linda (Ion Overman), also an
assistant DA, disapproves. Madea and Candace finally meet in prison
and Madea helps the young woman regain confidence, but it's like
serving a life sentence waiting for that to happen.
"The Class" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) -- If they're willing to
deal with fast- moving subtitles, American teens might be riveted by
this French film, set in a middle school in Paris. Based on Francois
Begaudeau's novel, taken from his teaching experiences, the movie has
a "cinema verite" feel. Most of the kids and teachers, including
Begaudeau, play themselves or variations of themselves worked out in
improvisations. Begaudeau teaches French literature and grammar. His
students are African and Asian immigrants. Some of the kids'
boisterous, sullen, funny, emotional exchanges with their teacher --
insults, disruptions, arguments, occasional learning -- reflect
unhappy feelings about France and about how they think France views
them. We sit in on faculty meetings, too, as one boy's expulsion is
debated. There is occasional strong profanity (the F-word), racial and
homophobic slurs, muted sexual innuendo, smoking, and teachers having
a champagne toast. In French with subtitles.
"Fired Up" -- Two high-school football players (Nicholas
D'Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen) sign up for majority-female
cheerleading camp, hoping to score more than touchdowns in this crass,
marginally diverting comedy. Without all the sexual innuendo, breast
jokes and gay (sometimes homophobic) humor in "Fired Up," the movie
would be about 10 minutes long. There are implied nongraphic sexual
situations, implied nudity, bare behinds, profanity, sexual slang, and
implied beer drinking. "Fired Up" shows real spark only once -- a
telling scene in which all the gung-ho cheerleaders at the camp watch
"Bring It On" (PG-13, 2000), the hit cheerleading movie with Kirsten
Dunst. They repeat all the lines along with the characters on-screen.
The rest of the film is just a crude teen sex comedy. Too crude for
middle-schoolers.
"Fanboys" (LIMITED RELEASE) -- Part road-trip comedy, part
valentine to "Star Wars" geeks, "Fanboys" could have used a bit more
geekiness and less crassness, but it's still pretty funny. It is 1998.
Four "Star Wars" fanatics (Sam Huntington, Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel
and Chris Marquette) head west on an eventful quest to director George
Lucas' ranch. They plan to steal a print of the not-yet-released "Star
Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" (PG, 1999). It's been ages
since the last film ("Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi,"
PG, 1983) and they want their dying pal (Marquette) to see the new
one. "Fanboys" is very R-ish, with crude sexual slang and innuendo,
homophobic humor and implied toplessness, as well as nongraphic sexual
situations, profanity, drug use, toilet humor and a muted subplot
about one guy's online romance with a girl who turns out to be 10
years old. 16 and up with parental OK.
"He's Just Not That Into You" -- Crisp, funny and poignant,
this romantic comedy/drama, based on the popular nonfiction book,
subtly chides young singles for casual affairs and brittle emotions.
Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) practically stalks guys who promise to call
and then don't -- until she gets eye-opening pointers from Alex
(Justin Long). Meanwhile, Conor (Kevin Connolly) pines for Anna
(Scarlett Johansson), who takes up with Ben (Bradley Cooper), who's
married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly), and Beth (Jennifer Aniston)
lives with Neil (Ben Affleck), who shuns marriage, while Mary (Drew
Barrymore) can't get a date. There are semiexplicit sexual trysts, one
with implied nudity. There is crude sexual slang, midrange profanity,
drinking, and implied smoking. A better bet for high-schoolers 16 and
older.
"Taken" -- Liam Neeson plays a retired CIA operative who uses
his skills to rescue his 18-year-old daughter (Maggie Grace) after she
and a friend (Katie Cassidy) are abducted in Paris. He homes in on a
gang of Albanian thugs who kidnap and drug girls, then use them as
prostitutes, even auctioning off virgins. The film makes ingenious use
of re-enactment. Despite the lurid theme, it is understated. The
stabbing, shooting, head-bashing mayhem is intense but not graphic,
and the portrayal of prostitution is not explicit. There is midrange
profanity, and a few crude sexual references. "Taken" feeds negative
stereotypes of Muslims in its villains. Not for middle-schoolers.
-- R's:
"Two Lovers" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) -- This quiet film about
the vagaries of love is acted with great skill and complexity of
feeling, especially by Joaquin Phoenix. Partly inspired by the
Dostoevsky story, "White Nights," the film unfolds in fits and starts,
yet slowly builds characters you care deeply about. Leonard (Phoenix),
who has had bouts of suicidal depression in the past, works at his
parents' (Isabella Rossellini and Moni Moshonov) Brooklyn dry
cleaners. They're thrilled when their handsome, emotionally fragile
son seems taken with the daughter (Vinessa Shaw) of dad's business
associate (Bob Ari). Then a glamorous young woman moves into their
building. Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) is beautiful, needy, and a kept
woman. Leonard becomes obsessed with her. The film includes two
semiexplicit sexual situations, brief toplessness, profanity, a
suicide theme, unwed pregnancy and a miscarriage. Thoughtful teens 16
and older.
"The International" -- Fine actors, intriguing locales and a
stunning shootout in New York City's Guggenheim Museum help "The
International" work, despite a frustratingly opaque plot -- something
about an international bank with tentacles in weapons deals, politics
and terrorism. High-schoolers may find its point of view -- that such
banks profit from tragedy -- intriguing. Interpol investigator Lou
Salinger (Clive Owen) becomes convinced that a bank had his partner
killed to cover up a weapons deal. He and a Manhattan assistant
district attorney (Naomi Watts) chase clues. The R rating reflects
blood-spurting point-blank shootouts, strong profanity, but almost no
sexual innuendo except for a remark about "getting laid."