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Damsels in Distress | 2011 | PG-13 | - 5.4.3
A quirky set of female co-eds set out to change the male-dominated campus of Seven Oaks University with suicide prevention through tap-dancing and free-soap outreach. With Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton, Carrie MacLemore, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Aubrey Plaza. Directed by Whit Stillman. [1:39]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - We see a young man and a young woman in bed together, and it is implied that the young man suggests to the young woman that they have anal intercourse due to his "religious beliefs" (the young man makes vague references to not having "intercourse in the front" and that he will not need a condom); we do not see the act. A young man and a young woman are seen kissing passionately, reclined on a sofa; sex is implied when we see the young woman leave the house the next morning.
► Four young women walk in on a young woman sitting on a young man's lap; they are kissing and the young woman pulls away as she sees the four young women. A young man and a young woman kiss as they dance and hold hands. A young woman kisses a young man on the cheek. A young man and a young woman dance at a party, and we see young men and women dancing, including a young man and a young woman holding hands while dancing.
► A young woman implies that she and a young man had previously had anal intercourse; a young man acts shocked and another young woman feigns innocence and implies that she has had anal intercourse frequently. A young woman remarks to another young woman that a young man had used the young woman "for her body." A young man remarks to a young woman that another young woman had been jealous of his relationship with the young woman. A young man tells a young woman that he thinks another young woman is attractive and asks if she is dating someone. A young woman hands a young man a flyer for a group called "A.L.A."; it is implied that the group is supportive of anal sex and the young man shouts at the young woman, saying that they are "pleasure seeking hedonists."
► A young woman is seen with a towel wrapped around her chest after we hear sounds of showering. Several young women are seen wearing full-skirted dresses and as they twirl around and the skirts flip up we see full-coverage short shorts covering their underwear.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - As a young woman tells another young woman that people have been jumping off the balcony of a second-floor building, "not to kill, but to maim," we see a man jump and fall to the ground and we hear a thud followed by a crunching sound as he shouts in pain.
► In a massive stand-off, we see many young men fighting using toy swords and shields in a mock-battle, including seeing a young man flip himself over a table and young men wrestling one another to the ground (no one is injured).
► A young man purposely throws himself over a porch railing, he lands with a thud on the ground and moments later he is seen walking away unharmed. Several young men and young women run after a young man as he storms up a staircase (it is implied that the young man might try to jump off a second-story balcony) and a young woman catches the young man as he stands at the edge of the balcony, unharmed. Several young men and women are seen scouring a college campus, shouting a young woman's name as they look for her and the young woman is later seen unharmed, returning to the campus on her own. A young man dramatically shouts and punches a table in frustration. A young woman shouts out, "A suicide could be in progress!" as she and three other young women rush to a dorm, a police officer opens a locked bedroom door, and an unharmed young woman is seen with a pillow over her head and crying; we later hear the first young woman refer to the crying young woman as "suicidal" and the young woman corrects her, saying she had never been suicidal.
► A young woman shouts at another young woman. A young woman tells three other young women that another young woman had a series of ticks as a child and had to complete them or she feared her parents would die; the young woman then nonchalantly adds that the young woman's parents had later died. A woman tells a young woman that college students frequently throw themselves in front of on-coming traffic; two men eavesdropping on the conversation add that it is "messy" and that the suicidal do not think about how someone will have to "stick around and clean the place up." Throughout the movie we hear young women discussing suicide and people who are "at risk," including a young woman telling another young woman, "there are a lot of suicides" in college when a second young woman corrects her, saying there are a lot of "attempted" suicides. A young woman remarks to another young woman, "boyfriends are a particular suicide risk." A young woman shouts at another young woman, saying that the young woman is only interested in her if she were to commit suicide and "make her look bad"; the young woman responds that if the young woman were to commit suicide she would only be making herself look bad. Several young women ask a young woman if she had tried to kill herself and the young woman implies that she had been interested in doing so, but had become distracted by the smell of a soap. A young woman sarcastically remarks that a young woman's body might not be "found for months" after she wanders off. On multiple occasions a group of young women discuss the hygiene of young men, including criticizing their cleanliness and saying their dorm building smells like "varmint infestation." Four young women discuss how a dorm has a high mortality rate and they could not pinpoint if it was due to suicide or people dying from a terrible stench. A young man sarcastically states that he desires to make an entire group of men homeless. A young man says he will point out incompetence in a group of people, stating that they will "become barely literate."
► Three young women gag dramatically and hold their noses as several young men walk by; one of the young women is later seen with a scarf over her nose and lying down as another young woman explains that the ill young woman is in "nasal shock" from a young man's bad smell. A young man tells a young woman that he "boots" if he drinks too much; the young woman asks the young man to clarify if he means to throw up and the young man agrees.
LANGUAGE 3 - 10 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory terms for the mentally handicapped, name-calling (trickster, playboy and operator, terrible, a real jerk, mind boggling arrogance and conceit, sad sack, loser, frivolous empty-headed perfume obsessed college students, barely competent for the tasks of everyday life, unkind self-righteous and pedantic, "Freak" used a nickname throughout the movie, terrible, morons, not good looking and yet not smart, completely egotistical, unbearable, usual undergraduate slobs, monster, rat, monster rat, creep, jerk, rat playboy operator, rat [expletive deleted], total sleaze, dope, weird and unpopular, your highness, unstable, pathetic, completely insane, muscle-bound morons running around in t-shirts, hilariously incompetent, out of your mind, knucklehead, strange, terrible pains in the neck), 17 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - Throughout the movie we see young men and women drinking liquor and beer in bars and restaurants and during a party, a young man and a young woman drink wine on multiple occasions, a young man buys drinks for a table where two young women and a young man sit, a young man tells a young woman that he thought a young man was "trying to get her drunk, a young woman refers to a building as having a "pot and stale beer" scent, and a young man tells a young woman that he drinks beer to cheer himself up and then corrects himself saying that beer is a depressant and that they should drink cocktails and liquor as a stimulant.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Depression, suicide, OCD, avoidance, changing oneself to conform, superficial obsessions, break-ups.
MESSAGE - College can be a great place to change your perspective on life.
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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.
Afraid - 4.5.5
You Gotta Believe - 2.3.3
The Forge - 1.1.1
City of Dreams - 5.8.7
The Crow - 6.9.8
Blink Twice - 6.7.10
The Union - 3.5.5
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