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Billy Elliot | 2000 | R | - 3.3.10

In this comedy/drama, a boy (Jamie Bell) gives up boxing and takes up ballet, much to the dismay of his coal-mining father and brother. Also with Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Jean Heywood, Stuart Wells, Mike Elliot, Billy Fane and Nicola Blackwell. [1:50]

SEX/NUDITY 3 - While on a bed, a boy leans over a girl while she touches his cheek (he gets up before they kiss). A girl tells a boy that her parents sleep in separate beds and don't have sex, and also mentions her father's infidelity. A man tells a group of boys not to engage in any "hanky-panky" with girls who are taking a dance class next to them. A girl offers to show a boy her "fanny." Twice, a boy gives another a peck on the cheek. We see a man's bare buttocks when he "moons" police officers; also, we see several shirtless male dancers, a few shirtless boys throughout the film, a man's bare chest and legs when he's sitting in a bathtub, and a man wearing a tank top and underwear (he's onscreen for a second).

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - In a few scenes, a crowd of striking workers being held back by a line of police officers yell and throw eggs at a bus of people crossing union lines; in one scene, police officers chase after a crowd (a few people are shoved and one is knocked down); they chase one man in particular for awhile, and after they catch him and knock him to the ground, they hit him with sticks (we see some blood on a sheet wrapped around his body; in a later scene he's fine). A man punches another and knocks him to the ground (the man's lip is slightly bloody), a boy punches another and knocks him off a bench, a woman slaps a boy's face, two men yell and shove each other, a man rattles another's grocery cart and yells at him, a man grasps the back of a boy's neck and leads him out of a room, a man grabs a boy and shoves him against a wall, a boy punches a sign a few times, and a boy kicks a fence a few times. A man smashes a piano into pieces with a hammer. The following are played for laughs (or at least not to be taken too seriously): a man swats a boy's nose with a magazine, a boy hits another boy's head with a pencil twice, a boy shoves another, a boy is punched in the face and knocked to the ground during a boxing match, a boy falls down a few times while trying to perfect his dance turns and positions, a boy pushes a man off a fence they're sitting on, and a boy and a girl have a pillow fight. Some scenes of people yelling at each other. A man spits on a police car; also, a man urinates on a snowman.

LANGUAGE 10 - Sometimes spoken by kids. About 48 F-words, several anatomical slang terms, lots of scatological references, several mild obscenities, and a few insults.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Defying traditional gender roles, learning ballet, union strikes, crossing union lines, loss of a parent, dysfunctional families, father-son relationships, poverty, the assumption that male dancers are homosexuals, cross-dressing (in one scene a boy wears a dress and says that his father wears dresses too), underage drinking (two boys take a swig of liquor, and one spits it out).

MESSAGE - Follow your dreams and be true to yourself; where there's a will, there's a way.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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