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Entertainment Media Analysis Report
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MAR20026
The Next Best Thing (2000), (PG-13)
CAP Score: 35
CAP Influence Density: 1.61
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ALERT: To fully understand this report you should first visit the topics suggested by the CAP Table of Contents.

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SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:

*The Next Best Thing* (PG-13 ) -- I am NOT politically correct...

... I am Biblically correct because I simply repeat God's expectations of us and hopefully help put them into proper perspective. So if you are looking for praise for this smelting pot of sexually immoral issues with extreme emphasis on homosexuality, you will need to go somewhere else. Note that one of the most effective ways to indoctrinate a population is to present new ideology to the kids. And this movie is PG-13. I wonder why. Shades of *It's Elementary* and *It's Perfectly Normal*!

Also note that the PG-13 classification is a slice off the top of the R-rating from just a few years ago. What is now PG-13 used to be R. Indeed this movie earned a score mathematically equivalent to a hard R-rated movie of 1995 and before, if only because of the saturation of lesser invasions of righteousness instead of the technique of inserting a few boldly invasive matters.

In alcoholic ecstasy [Hab. 2:15], homosexual Robert (Rupert Everett) and heterosexual Abbie (Madonna) pair off as man and woman somewhere offscreen. And low and behold, a baby boy is conceived. Robert, being a homosexual, wants nothing to do with marrying Abbie. Abbie is not "the marrying type" but wants to have the baby. So what is to be done? Robert becomes a live-in father for the baby but not a husband to his mother. Completely platonic, of course. And, of course, the producers make the homosexual "father" appear to be the best kind of parent on the planet. That the parental talents portrayed by Everette were "exemplary" is not the issue. The sin of homosexuality is the issue. Plain and simple. And if this were a real story, another child would grow up believing that homosexuality and sexual immorality are not sinful. But then, what about the real boy who played the part of the little boy? What does he now think? There seems little doubt to me that this movie is another politically correct move to support the homosexual agenda in redefining God's Word about marriage and family [1 Cor. 7:2; Hebr. 13:4] and to further the lowering of heterosexual inhibitions. [Rom. 13:13]

There are many places in the Bible, Old Testament and New, which specifically admonish us of the wrongness of homosexuality, but consider this. God also admonishes us that *any* sexual activity outside of a monogamous heterosexual marriage is immoral and sinful. So, all of God's Laws regarding sexual behavior apply to homosexuality as well. I guess He decided that He must confront the issue of homosexuality directly and unambiguously as He confronted the issue of heterosexual immorality.

Let me remind you that while homosexuality is a sin, heterosexual immorality is also a sin. Further, it is also a sin to hate the homosexual. You do not hate those you know to be heterosexually immoral do you? Then why hate the homosexual? Homosexuality is but another form of sexual sin. The homosexual is as precious to Jesus as anyone -- it is the act Jesus hates, not the actor (or actress). Yes, He hates sin and tells us so in Prov 6:16-19. Heterosexuality is the design state of life in a monogamous marriage, but no where in the Bible I can find does God even hint of homosexuality being "natural" under *any* condition. And no where I can find does He even suggest that some are born homosexual. Thus, homosexuality is a chosen behavior just as is heterosexual immorality, however deep a grasp the sin has on the host.

*The Next best Thing* is a massive collection of sexual issues, the great majority of them homosexual issues, each portrayed as acceptable as wearing white socks or gray. The movie paints a picture that homosexuality as much a part of wholesome life as childhood. It further paints heterosexual immorality as welcome as the morning sun. Other than the pregnancy, not one mention of the consequences of homosexuality or of heterosexual immorality, Biblical OR health was noted. There may have been, but if there were they were so buried in the glaring sexual presentations on this film they were [intentionally?] not noticeable.

As I said in the beginning, I just repeat what God has told us. I did not write the "rules." Just a few examples of them which apply to immoral sexual behavior include:

Lev. 18:22 (KJV) "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." (NIV) "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."

Lev. 20:13 (KJV) "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination:..." (NIV) "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable..."

Deut. 22:5 (KJV) "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God." (NIV) "A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this."

(NIV only) Rom. 1:24 "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. [25] They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -who is forever praised. Amen. [26] Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. [27] In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. [28] Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. "

1 Cor. 7:2 (KJV) "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." (with "husband and wife clearly defined elsewhere as male and female)

Hebr. 13:4 (KJV) "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."

1 Thess. 4:3 "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:"

So many of our visitors seem to be relying only on this Summary/Commentary for a full assessment of this movie. This is not possible. For the best representation of the CAP Entertainment Media Analysis Model applied to this movie, visit the Findings/Scoring section below.





FINDINGS / SCORING: The Next Best Thing (2000) CAP Thermometers

NOTE: Multiple occurrences of each item described below may be likely.

Wanton Violence/Crime (W):
  • none noted

    Impudence/Hate (I)(1):
  • a single use of the most foul of the foul words
  • 18 uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary
  • pathetic disregard for sex, gender, birth, parenthood: as if it is all a cartoon
  • lie to get ahead
  • hatefulness

    Sex/Homosexuality (S):
  • ghosting of female anatomy through clothing
  • cohabitation
  • brief nudity, full rear, female
  • heterosexual comments, discussions, innuendo, and talk
  • homosexual comments, mannerisms, innuendo, insults, and talk
  • excessive cleavage
  • self-touching
  • vulgar sequences
  • clear promotions and encouragements of sexual immorality, especially homosexuality, as acceptable
  • portrayal of the homosexual agenda as the "injured party"
  • man and woman in bed together
  • pictures of gay pairs
  • inappropriate touch
  • gaping mouth kissing
  • adults in underwear, including before a child
  • homosexual pairs, including in bed together
  • slanders of righteousness and evangelicals by a homosexual
  • discussion of bodily functions
  • pregnancy out of wedlock
  • male standing nude (unseen) before a female
  • upper female nudity

    Drugs/Alcohol (D):
  • booze
  • drinking
  • smoking
  • consuming prescription drugs with alcohol

    Offense to God (O)(2):
  • 17 uses of God's name in vain without the four letter expletive
  • calling holy gothic
  • redefinition of family
  • two men speaking of relationships in a traditionally "female" style
  • presentation of yoga

    Murder/Suicide (M)(3):
  • none noted





  • (1) As noted in CAP Special Report-001, "Investigation Area and Scoring Trend," of the six CAP Investigation Areas, Impudence/Hate was the strongest presence in all four movie classifications. It has a strong revelation about the entertainment media.

    (2) The use of the three/four letter word vocabulary without God's name in vain is incorporated into the Impudence/Hate Investigation Area. The use of God's name with or without the four letter expletive is incorporated into the Offense to God Investigation Area. There is no duplication.

    (3) Only portrayal of successful murder or suicide are incorporated into Murder/Suicide. Portrayal of attempts to commit murder or suicide and deaths by police action or war are incorporated into Wanton Violence/Crime.





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    Thomas A. Carder
    President
    ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)

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