A soccer loving man (Diego Luna) is nicknamed Rudo (Rough) for his goal blocking techniques. His brother (Gael García Bernal) is called Cursi (Corny) for his silliness. The brothers pick bananas but want to become professional soccer players and when a scout (Guillermo Francella) watches them play, he signs them up to rival teams. Each brother also pursues another dream -- one, to become a pop star and the other, a big-time gambler, and are caught in a tide of unfortunate events. Also with Jessica Mas and Adriana Paz. Directed by Carlos Cuaron. In Spanish with English subtitles. [1:43]

SEX/NUDITY 8 - A man takes a woman to his home, he opens his shirt (we see his bare chest), she wears a bare-midriff top opened to show cleavage and a miniskirt, and the camera closes in as she drops her skirt, he kneels down, gasps, rises, and says, "You're all shaved down there"; she smiles, they remove clothing and we see her topless and then sitting on a counter nude except for high heels, her legs wrapped around the man, and his trousers and underwear around his ankles as he thrusts and she squirms, moans and squeals.
► A man and a woman kiss twice while sitting in a car, and later in bed they have sex under covers (we see bare arms and shoulders; we see no climax, but hear some moaning). A husband and his wife kiss briefly several times. A woman wearing a nightgown that reveals her panty lines lies in bed with her husband and kisses him.
► In a shower-room, three nude men surround another nude man sitting on the floor out of view and we glimpse the side of one penis briefly; one hand of each of the three standing men begins to move in a way that suggests masturbation, and ejaculation onto the seated man is implied but not shown. In two scenes, we see the back nude views of men walking out of shower stalls as they grab another man, take soap and a razor and they describe shaving the hazed man's genital area -- we do not see anything but we hear some yelling and see the victim scratching his clothed groin later. In a shower-room scene a soccer team hazes a new player by shoving a bar of soap up his rectum as he yells; the action is blocked from view, but the hazed man turns and backs up toward the camera and we see a large soapy area around his lower buttocks
► A woman in a tight, short-sleeved jumpsuit leans sideways across the back of a car, and her bosom is revealed except for nipples. Three shower-room scenes begin with a camera pointed down along a row of nude men showering and we see bare backs, chests and buttocks in close ups. In several scenes we see four or five women in micro-mini skirts that reveal bare thighs and halter-tops that reveal cleavage. A woman wears a crocheted halter-top with exposed openings showing much of her body. A man is shown in several scenes wearing an open shirt. In several scenes middle-school aged boys are shown without shirts, playing soccer. In three short music videos, two female background dancers wear tops that reveal cleavage and bare midriffs and shorts; they dance and gyrate suggestively as a man sings, "I want you to want me; I need you to need me" several times.
► A man tells a friend that sitting on the bench and not playing soccer is like taking a wife on a honeymoon without making love to her, but being "forced to watch 22 cretins and 3 bobbies have intercourse with her all night." A mother tells her daughter about a boyfriend, "He just wants to knock you up." A man tells a soccer coach to lose a game purposely or he will tell his wife that he is having a sexual affair with a young boy.
► Soccer players are shown rubbing or scratching their genitals through their clothing in several scenes.

VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - A taxi is cut off by another taxi, forcing it to the side of the road and one driver exits his vehicle carrying a handgun, walks to the back of the other taxi, and shoots through the window at the passenger, who screams and sways in the back seat (we later see the passenger missing a leg and using crutches).
► In a shower-room scene a soccer team hazes a new player by shoving a bar of soap up his rectum as he yells; the action is blocked from view, but the hazed man turns and backs up toward the camera and we see a large soapy area around his lower buttocks. In another shower room scene, several players grab a new player, hold him forcibly against a wall and shave his genitals as he yells and the scene ends.
► After soccer tryouts, a rejected player attacks a successful player, yells at him, knocks him down, punches him in the face, and walks away. Soccer players accost another player for missing a goal and they shove him around. Two players on opposing soccer teams scuffle on the field and are separated by the referee.
► A man in a jealous rage shouts, curses, pounds tables, breaks vases and lamps, and threatens to kill a woman; he attempts to leave the apartment he shares with 5 other men who restrain him three times.
► Two large men approach a star goalie on a street and tell him that if he does not win the next game, they will beat him up and kill him. Two men argue about soccer skills and banana picking, they yell at each other several times at a dinner, and a man pulls out a gun and tells another man to apologize to their mother for the commotion. A brief argument erupts at a cantina poker table with a man pounding the table with his fist when he loses; he later does the same thing in a casino.
► A wedding scene at a mansion shows guards around the roof with machine guns.
► We hear about soccer being invented during a war when a soldier's severed head was kicked across the ground by an opposing soldier, and the kicker was so pleased by this that he created a game with his comrades and played whenever they had severed enemy heads (this is accompanied by graveyard scenes, headstones and crosses decorated alternately with soccer gloves, shin guards and smashed soccer balls).
► We see that the side of a woman's face is covered in a dark, red and purple bruise, and a man asks if her husband struck her; she denies it. Most of the film is shot in rural Mexico and shows impoverished conditions, with dilapidated, dirty houses and rundown stores. Men playing soccer stop and spit on the field or in dirt. During a very brief cockfight one rooster ruffles his feathers and jumps toward another rooster, which jumps back; a few muffled sounds of wings flapping are heard.

LANGUAGE 9 - About 48 F-words, 27 scatological references, 37 anatomical references, 9 sexual references, 40 mild obscenities, 11 instances of stereotypical comments about Mexicans, women, male singers, and homosexuals, name-calling (fool, moron, cretins, bobbies, retard, booger, wetbacks, child molester, dwarf, hick, whale, pansy, wuss, whore, deadbeat, old, rotten, tart, weenie, cop, worm-face, teacup, criminal, butterfingers, circus brats), 2 religious profanities, 7 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - Two men ask one another if a rich drug lord has moved to town, and one of the men receives a small amount of cocaine on the back of his hand, he snorts and wipes his nose, and a man takes a job with the drug lord. Scenes in a casino show several men smoking cigarettes and drinking beer, a man smokes a cigarette and drinks beer at a soccer game, beer bottles are shown on a dinner table while adults drink continually, several cantina scenes show men drinking from beer bottles and cans, several soccer field scenes show men and women drinking cans of beer and holding six packs of beer as they watch, men and women in several scenes at race tracks, a rooster cockfight, and pro soccer games drink from bottles and cans of beer, three scenes show a man drinking beer in the back seat of a moving car, two restaurant scenes portray diners drinking cocktails and beer, four scenes show men drinking beer in a hardware store gathered around a TV, three scenes at a market show a table full of beer cups and bottles and men drinking beer, a cantina scene shows a man asking for another beer and the bartender replies "No, you're wasted," and two scenes at a wedding reception show men and women drinking from glasses of white and red wine, tall cocktail glasses and cups of beer. Several scenes of professional soccer matches show several men smoking cigarettes in the stands, five men smoke cigarettes at a rooster cockfight, and two men smoke cigarettes while they talk and watch TV in an apartment.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Poverty, alcohol, gambling, drugs, prostitution, cockfighting, money, greed, corruption, dreams, relationships, family, responsibility, compromise, professional soccer.

MESSAGE - Fame is not always fun.