Family Film Reviews

NEW THIS WEEK

-- MARTIN LAWRENCE DONS "BIG MOMMA" DRAG AGAIN AS AN FBI UNDERCOVER GUY, ALONG WITH BRANDON T. JACKSON, IN THIS LURCHINGLY UNEVEN ACTION COMEDY AIMED AT TEENS:

"BIG MOMMAS: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON" PG-13 -- Young actor/comedian Brandon T. Jackson joins forces with Martin Lawrence in this second sequel (following "Big Momma's House," PG-13, 2000; and "Big Momma's House 2," PG-13, 2006), but there's not enough of Jackson as a wannabe rap star, or of the other young cast members performing pop music, to automatically reel in a teen audience. Nor is the action or the comedy all that much. Even so, the light tone may engage teens seeking a little simple escapism. Atlanta-based FBI agent Malcolm (Martin Lawrence) is thrilled when his stepson Trent (Jackson) is accepted at Duke University. But Trent wants to skip college and seek rap stardom. Trent follows Malcolm to a stake-out and inadvertently witnesses a murder. Now the killers are after Trent, as well as a top-secret flash drive that Malcolm learns is hidden somewhere on the campus of a private performing arts school for girls. Malcolm goes back undercover as Big Momma and disguises Trent as the hefty Charmaine. He enrolls "her" at the school and gets hired as a house mother. When Trent falls for music student Haley (Jessica Lucas), he has trouble staying in disguise.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The PG-13 rating results mainly from the sexual innuendo and toilet humor that emerge from Trent trying to maintain a feminine demeanor as "Charmaine" and not reveal that he is attracted to the girls in the dorm, especially Haley. Similar innuendo also emerges when a randy security guard (Faizon Love) flirts with Big Momma. Scenes of violence and mayhem, which include a gun murder, nonlethal gunplay and fights, are understated. The language sticks to occasional low-grade profanity.

-- TWO MILQUETOAST HUSBANDS WITH WANDERING EYES GET WIFELY PERMISSION TO STRAY FROM THEIR MARRIAGES FOR A WEEK IN THIS INTERMITTENTLY FUNNY, ALWAYS LEWD, ADULT FARCE:

"HALL PASS" R -- Teens 17 and older who don't mind -- and are mature enough to handle -- crude sexual humor may get a charge out of "Hall Pass," since it's about people their parents' age having sexual longings and feeling constrained by marriage. Best buddies Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) both like to eyeball the ladies when they think their wives aren't looking. They're both sex-obsessed and as immature and awkward as they were in high-school, with wives who are often tired and not in the mood. Fred even gets caught by police for masturbating in his parked car. (It's a Farrelly Brothers movie, after all. Remember "There's Something About Mary," R, 1998?) First Rick's loving wife Maggie (Jenna Fischer) decides to give Rick a week off from marriage, no questions asked. Then Fred's wife Grace (Christina Applegate) does the same for him. But when the two men get together with their other pals to start hunting for available "hot" women, they have no idea where to start or how to meet ladies without sounding like dorks. Eventually, they do have sexual adventures of sorts, but it's ultimately their wives who have their marriage vows tested.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Oh, where to start: In no way for teens under 17, the film contains male frontal nudity, a la "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (R, 2008), explicitly implied sexual situations (no nudity, but graphically pantomimed), and endlessly crude slang for sex acts and (mostly female) sex organs. There is also profanity, but nothing like the sexual slang. Characters also get high on marijuana brownies and drink to excess. The film's preachy pro-marriage ending seems cynical after all that's gone before.

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-- OK FOR KIDS 6 AND OLDER:

"GNOMEO & JULIET" G -- Kids 6 and older and their parents ought to bliss out on "Gnomeo & Juliet." Shakespeare's play takes a riotous turn among garden gnomes and gets a happy ending in this computer-animated 3-D treat, "drawn" with a delicious mix of realism and colorful exaggeration. The story is grace-noted by old and new Elton John tunes. Human next-door neighbors Mr. Capulet and Miss Montague have feuded for years and the gnomes in their respective gardens reflect that. The young males fight and drag-race power mowers -- though of course, the gnomes only come to life when humans are not around. One night, Juliet (voice of Emily Blunt) creeps out of the red-themed Capulet garden, where she lives with her gnome family, to steal a flower. She encounters Gnomeo (James McAvoy), of the blue-toned Montague garden. It's love at first sight, but their romance wreaks gnomish havoc. Patrick Stewart has a fine turn as the voice of Shakespeare (a statue come to life), trying to explain that the story is supposed to be a tragedy. The film abounds in clever allusions to other Shakespeare's plays.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The witty script includes mildly grown-up gags, such as "I'm not illiterate -- my parents were married!" In general, the humor and sexual innuendo are so mild that the G-rating is justified, but the occasional property-and-gnome-shattering lawn-mower races could arguably unsettle the youngest kids. Injured gnomes do get repaired and are OK. There is a subtle suicide reference to the play -- "took his own life."

-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:

"JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER" -- Justin Bieber's fans 8 and older will love this backstage peek at his life. The 3-D "documentary"/marketing video traces Bieber's start as a talented toddler, crooning and playing drums on home videos, to his YouTube breakthrough, to the big 2010 North American tour that culminated in a sold-out Madison Square Garden concert. It portrays the Canadian-bred pop idol as a squeaky-clean, super-nice kid who wants desperately to be a star without losing what's left of his childhood -- he'll be 17 in March. The most interesting section occurs when Bieber gets inflamed vocal cords just before the New York concert, all because he spent too much time yelling with his buds back home in Ontario. His family, manager, vocal coach, security guy and others on his team seem genuinely fond of Justin, and it is they who tell the story of his rise to fame. Bieber's mentor, Usher, makes cameo appearances, along with Miley Cyrus, Jaden Smith, Boys II Men, Ludacris and others. It's tough to know in this slick version of reality how much to believe, but Bieber is undoubtedly talented, and his fans clearly as obsessed as Beatlemaniacs of the 1960s.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Someone makes a verbal reference to "making out" but in an innocent way. The language is truly G-rated, and we never see anyone drink anything other than water, soda or health drinks. Very mild sexual innuendo might be inferred from some onstage dance moves.

-- PG-13s:

"UNKNOWN" -- High-schoolers who like spy sagas may happily buy into this espionage-and-assassination thriller, with its European setting, its middle-aged star and its nicotine-stained glance back at Cold War cloak-and-dagger. The violence is awfully graphic and intense for a PG-13, so it's not for middle-schoolers. Liam Neeson plays a biologist, Dr. Martin Harris, who flies to Berlin to deliver a speech at a science summit, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth (January Jones). As they're checking into the hotel he realizes he left his briefcase at the airport. He jumps into another cab and heads back, but the cab is in a bad accident. Martin awakens days later in a hospital, his memory shaken and his ID missing. When he returns to the hotel, his wife does not recognize him and claims her husband has always been with her (the "new" Martin is played by Aidan Quinn). Neeson's Martin begins to wonder if he's going insane. When he realizes he really is under lethal threat, he gets help from a former East German spy (Bruno Ganz), and the cab driver from the accident, Gina (Diane Kruger). The film grows ponderous with plot near the end, but mostly it is a better-than-average cerebral thriller.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The murderous violence features a snapped neck, stabbings with shards of glass, bone-crushing with tire irons and gunplay, a huge explosion and dizzying car chases. The intensity approaches R territory. The film includes muted marital sexual innuendo, some drinking and smoking, and a couple of mild verbal epithets.

"I AM NUMBER FOUR" -- Lots of teens will scoff at the pseudo-seriousness and implausibility of this clunky movie -- even as a sci-fi saga. Yet they may find it entertaining enough as a curious hybrid of teen romance and supernatural hoo-ha. A handsome high-school loner, using the alias "John Smith" (Alex Pettyfer), is actually from outerspace, hiding from Voldemortish intergalactic conquerors called Mogadorians who destroyed his planet. They are coming after "John" and other survivors hiding here on Earth. John and his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) move a lot, change their names often, lie low and blend in. Then John starts to discover his warrior super powers and finds it tough to keep them in check. He gets a glowing scar on his leg every time those reptilian Mogadorians kill someone from his planet and get closer to finding him. At his latest high school, John falls for Sarah (Dianna Agron), and must take her into his confidence as the killers approach. The final battle involves both humans and extraterrestrials.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The movie includes occasional midrange profanity and mild sexual innuendo, but the main PG-13 ingredient is violence. The mayhem includes not only supernatural violence, with the killers forcing humans to swallow lethal blades and such (no blood), but fights, gunplay and a very creepy haunted house, with fake severed heads and corpses. The story also includes a standard-issue high-school bully.

"JUST GO WITH IT" -- This kinda-sorta-sex-comedy is meant to warm the heart, but it is merely crude most of the time and often sounds unscripted -- and not in a good way. Adam Sandler plays Danny, a rich plastic surgeon who protects himself from heartbreak by wearing a fake wedding ring and pretending he's unhappily married. This attracts younger women who don't expect entanglements and can't hurt him. Then he falls for Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a gorgeous, sweet schoolteacher who doubts his story. He convinces his office assistant, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), a divorcee with two kids, to pose as his soon-to-be-ex, to help him fool Palmer. When Katherine accidentally mentions her children, they suddenly become hers and Danny's kids, who Palmer insists on meeting. This leads to a getting-to-know-you jaunt to Hawaii, along with Danny's obnoxious cousin (Nick Swardson). Toss in Nicole Kidman, who turns up as Katherine's college nemesis and you have -- well, a mess. Worst of all, Katherine's kids (Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck) are forced to speak jaded, out-of-character adult sentiments for cheap laughs.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The movie includes a ridiculous amount of toilet humor, implied toplessness, homophobic humor and crude verbal and visual sexual innuendo of all kinds. The language is relatively mild, except for a couple of S-words.

"THE ROOMMATE" -- This lurid claptrap avoids graphic sex or overly graphic violence, thus holding onto its PG-13 rating (a rating that grows more untrustworthy and meaningless by the week), yet it is emphatically not for middle-schoolers. In fact, "The Roommate" approaches soft-core porn in the way it hyper-sexualizes and dumbs down 18-year-olds. It also links mental illness with sexual identity, which is equally unenlightened. Talented designer-to-be Sara (Minka Kelly of TV's "Friday Night Lights") likes her new college roommate Rebecca (Leighton Meester of TV's "Gossip Girl") at first. Then Rebecca gradually exhibits jealousy, possessiveness, and a sexual obsession with Sara. She also hits and cuts herself and threatens Sara's friends. The tabloid-ish tale culminates in strong violence.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Stabbings and bone-crushing fights are underplayed just enough to avoid an R. The script includes frequent barnyard profanity. Sexual situations are mostly implied, with nonexplicit montages that show just enough skin to imply nudity but keep the PG-13. That includes a dorm shower scene. At a party, 18-year-olds are shown drinking, and toplessness and sexual promiscuity are implied. The dialogue also contains a drug reference. SPOILER ALERT: We see a kitten placed in a clothes dryer, but we never see it hurt or dead.

-- AN R:

"NO STRINGS ATTACHED" -- Ashton Kutcher exhibits actual subtlety and emotional depth as an actor in this romantic comedy, but the sexual content makes the film questionable for most teens under 17, so they'll have to witness his growth as an actor in something else. Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Kutcher) met as adolescents, when she rebuffed his advances. They meet again as adults, fall into bed for a one-night stand, then decide to continue the relationship as a sex-only fling. She's a medical resident who works ridiculous hours and he's a would-be Hollywood writer trying to escape his famous actor dad's (Kevin Kline) party-guy rep. Worse yet, his dad has taken up with Adam's ex-girlfriend (Ophelia Lovibond). It is the softhearted Adam who soon develops stronger feelings for Emma, but she balks -- at first.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The sexual situations, though not frequent or with nudity, are quite explicit. Characters also drink, make condom jokes and drug references, and use strong profanity. The movie deals intelligently with the idea that most people can't sustain long-term sexual relationships without an emotional element.