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Entertainment Media Analysis Report
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MAR2010.006

(2009), PG-13 [R-13*] (1hr 24min)

Final Score
Analysis Date
Date Posted
Influence Density
MinMax
January 30, 2010
February 4, 2010
46
ID
-100

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Christian Long Distance

SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:
(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)

If Scriptural references appear, the full text appears at the end of the Summary / Commentary.



(2009), PG-13 [R-13*] -- acceptable for your 13 year olds kids through the dissonance created by ...


Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database
Production (US): John Wells Productions, Killer Films, iDeal Partners Film Fund
Distribution (US): National Entertainment Media
Director(s): Katherine Dieckmann
Producer(s): Yee Yeo Chang, Rachel Cohen, Daniel Crown, Jana Edelbaum, Peter M. Graham II, Stephen Hays, Pamela Koffler, Michael Lesser, Robin Sweet, Christine Vachon, John Wells
Screenplay by: Katherine Dieckmann
Cinematography/Camera: Nancy Schreiber
Music: Joe Henry
Film Editing: Michael R. Miller
Casting: Ali Farrell, Laura Rosenthal
Production Design: Debbie DeVilla
Art Direction: Charles Kulsziski
Viewed on National Entertainment Media DVD



This analysis is sponsored by the generosity of E&HP.

Comedy? Gimmie a break! It may be because of the late hour but there was little if anything funny about this film. It might also have been funny if the four uses of the most foul of the foul words were left out ... if the 25 three/four letter words were left out ... if the sneaking adultery was left out ... if the talk of using a child's toy as a dildo were left out, if the ... Yes, this is a modern PG-13, folks, made acceptable for your 13 year olds kids through the dissonance created by that "PG-13" label.

I do not like to report such ugly things as the use of a child's toy as a sex tool above but if you and/or your kids watch this movie you and/or they will hear it from the larger-than-life 60-foot screen under 2000 watts audio power. Isn't it better to be armed with the truth about the content here, in controllable text, rather than discovering it onscreen when you can do nothing about it?

There is not much to tell about the story or plot -- if there was one. I suspect you as a parent are aware enough and can construct a rather accurate picture of the movie from what we reveal regarding its content. At any rate, let me say a few things about the story.

NYC residents Eliza Kendall Welch (Uma Thurman) and her husband Avery (Anthony Edwards) have two children, 5 year old Clara (Daisy Taman) who will be six tomorrow and toddler Lucas (David Schallipp and Matthew Schallipp). The film begins with Eliza getting up from bed first and readying the family for another day. Another morning of the typical rush-rush frenzy, mostly by herself without Avery's help.

After buzzing about with daily get-going tasks and an argument between Clara and the daughter of French neighbor Sandrine Dumas (Stephanie Szostak) about who has the best of anything, mom finally returns to the apartment and tries to return to writing. She finds nine minutes to post a blog online to express initial throes against motherhood. After posting her blog Eliza gets a popup screen from Lunchbox magazine that invites her to write about motherhood: to speak her mind and become a resident "momologist" with 500 words telling what it means to be a mom and earn up to $3000. Bingo! But the work must be submitted by 12 Midnight the next day. Eliza has birthday party stuff to get for Clara's birthday tomorrow and throw the birthday party plus a to-do list that would tire a 20 year old mom. Eliza boasts her first headline will be "To thine own self be true: Don't Breed." Talk about the "I want it all and I want it now!" syndrome. If everyone followed Eliza's dogma there would not be ......... The entire planet would be void of people in two generations.

To counter Eiza's selfishness, there are a couple skits of Eliza's doting love for Clara. But there are also skits of her hatred of Avery, her near-miss with adultery, her threat of divorce and her leaving him and the kids -- all of it shrouded in the "It ain't good enough no matter what 'it' is" attitude. That is the flavor of the entire show and I am not going to spend any more of my time or yours summarizing any more of it.

My subjective opinion of this movie is that it is more emboldenment for mothers to think lowly of the most important job on the planet because it takes sacrifice, just like soap operas: that there is "something validating about having a real job" as if motherhood is not a real job. Granted it is nearly impossible for a family to financially survive nowadays without both parents working but let's get real and understand that motherhood is probably the most real job a mother could have.

I am sure I sound one-sided but I have an excuse. My wife and I have been parents to 39 children (two biological and 37 foster kids). From the foster kids we have adopted eight. I do not like to see or hear anyone mean-mouthing (so to speak) motherhood. Kids are not an obstruction nor an obstacle. If it were not for "kids" you would not be here.

Let me get to the main reason most of the more than 11,000,000 folks have visited us.

Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - 96 out of 100
The only issue of violence/crime is reckless driving. This film is G-equivalent in violence and/or crime.

Impudence/Hate (S) - Zero out of 100
Twenty five times someone spews some form of the three/four letter word vocabulary, once by a child. Four times someone utters the most foul of the foul words. A malcontent painter utters the European equivalent of the most foul of the foul words. [Col. 3:8, Eph. 4:29] Rudeness rears its ugly head a number of times, even behind the wheel of a car. A store clerk is dressed in punk and has a nose ring. [Prov. 8:13, Mal. 4:1] Plus a few lies [Rev. 21:8] and comments such as "Work keeps mommies from being mean, nasty mommies." Not at all a good image of "motherhood." There are so many little (and not so little) snippets of "It ain't good enough no matter what 'it' is" that they drained the starting 100 points of this investigation area to zero. This relatively new technique of loading or weighting movies with tons of "lesser" assaults on morality and decency to achieve the feel of movies of a more severe nature is explained in our publication CAP Rule of 1000.

Sexual Immorality (S) - Zero out of 100
Here is yet another example of the loading and/or weighting described in our CAP Rule of 1000 publication. There is no nudity nor any one atop anyone else but there are s-o m-a-n-y sexually oriented snippets and innuendo [Eph. 5:4, Eph. 4:29 (again), Prov. 15: 4] of the "lesser" kind (see CAP Rule of 1000) that the magnitude or "feel" of all those little digs and jabs at wholesome morality are truly equivalent to the harsher and more extreme assaults on sexual humility typically found in R-rated films. Indeed, a thousand little jabs in and as entertainment can be and often is more morally damaging than 100 more extreme jabs.

Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 68 out of 100
This film presents no alcoholic beverages whatsoever, at last none I found. But it does demonstrate smoking cigarettes. Seven times. The American College of Physicians (ACP) warns that such exposure of the middle school aged stratum to such content is inarguably a bad influence, leading many to practice the bad habit that destroys their bodies (which are not their own [1 Cor. 6:19 - 20]). And Jesus Himself warns us that s/he who teaches and/or causes our youth to sin would be better off if a millstone were tied about his/her neck then cast into the sea. [Luke 17:2]

Offense to God (O) - 9 out of 100
Twelve times someone uses God's name in vain without the four letter expletive and three times with it. God does not like that. He says so in Deut. 5:11.

Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100
There are no suicides or murders in the entire 84 minutes of the film.


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SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S)
If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page.

CHAPTER/VERSE

  • Col. 3:8 But now ye also put off [rid yourself of] all these; anger, wrath, malice [kakia: ill-will, desire to injure, wickedness, depravity, evil, trouble, not ashamed to break laws, etc.], blasphemy [blasphemia: impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty], filthy communication [aischrologia:foul speaking, low and obscene speech] out of your mouth.
  • Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupt [sapros: of poor quality, bad, unfit for use, worthless] communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
  • A wholesome tongue is a tree of life ...
  • Prov. 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
  • Mal. 4:1 "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them."
  • Rev. 21:8 But the {unforgiven} fearful [cowardly], and unbelieving, and the abominable [vile], and murderers, and whoremongers [sexually immoral], and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
  • Eph. 5:4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
  • Deut. 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. [Vain is shav {shawv}: emptiness, nothingness, vanity,such as an expletive. With or without the four letter expletive, the use of God's name in any way other than respect, reverence or responsible discussion is in vain. That includes the popular three syllable sentence with His name trailing it AND the misuse of Jesus' name or title. So, trying to excuse such expressions with "I was talking TO God/Jesus when I said that" will not work with Him.]
  • 1 Cor. 6:19 - 20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

    ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry***
  • Jer. 37:9 This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, 'The Babylonians [the destroyers from within] will surely leave us.' They will not!
  • Ps. 12:8 The wicked freely strut about [e.g., create progressively vile/offensive entertainment with impunity and no consequences and present it to younger and younger audiences every year] when what is vile is honored among men [when enough people continue to defend it, embrace it, enjoy it, want it, submit to it. I call attention to Ps. 12:8 to warn of the creeping desensitizing power of "entertainment."]
  • Col. 2:8 Beware lest any man [by his influence] spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
  • 1 Cor. 15:33 Be not deceived: evil [kakov: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be] communications corrupt good manners.
  • Rom. 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
  • Jude 1:4 For there are certain men* crept in unawares [secretly slipped in among us], who were before of old ordained to this condemnation [whose condemnation was written about long ago], ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [a license for immorality], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. [*men: anthropos {anth'-ro-pos}, generic, a human being, whether male or female]
  • Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
  • Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. [Offend: skandalizo {skan-dal-id'-zo} - scandalize; to entice to sin; to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away.]
  • Ps. 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me [let no sin rule over me].
  • John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
  • 1 Thess. 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. ["Evil" includes all things that are sinful.]


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    As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie.
  • FINDINGS / SCORING:
    (The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary / Commentary section.)


    Motherhood (2009) CAP Thermometers

    Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - 96 out of 100
  • reckless driving

    Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100
  • 24 uses of profanity, once by a child plus four uses of the most foul of the foul words (one of the most foul was in closed captioning text but not in spoken script)
  • vulgar name calling
  • rudeness, repeatedly, once in driving habits
  • shopping line argumentation
  • punk attire
  • facial piercing
  • encouraging no consideration of others with loud music, twice
  • hateful exchange
  • lie
  • "Work keeps mommies form being mean, nasty mommies"

    Sexual Immorality (S) - Zero out of 100
  • man and woman in bed in night clothes
  • crude anatomical references
  • woman in underwear
  • talk if intercourse, repeatedly
  • woman talking of using a child's toy as a dildo to masturbate, twice
  • innuendo re: intercourse
  • excessive cleavage, repeatedly
  • making out in public
  • lesbian reference
  • adulterous interest
  • public talk of sex for married women

    Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 68 out of 100
  • smoking, repeatedly
  • talk of using illegal drugs

    Offense to God (O) - 9 out of 100
  • "Peace" medallion (which, to some, represents a broke, upsides down Cross of Jesus)
  • 24 uses of God's name in vain without the four letter expletive, once by a child, and 3 uses of His name in vain with the four letter expletive

    Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100
  • none noted















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    There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings.



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