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W. | 2008 | PG-13 | - 2.5.5

Director Oliver Stone's vision of the life of George W. Bush (Josh Brolin), from his days as a fraternity pledge at Yale University to becoming President of the United States and invading Iraq. Also with Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton, Ioan Gruffudd, Rob Corddry, Scott Glenn, Jeffrey Wright and Richard Dreyfuss. [1:50]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A man and a woman kiss in a few scenes. A man and a woman dance on a bar and kiss. A woman wearing a nightgown lies in bed (bare shoulders and cleavage are visible), her husband in pajamas joins her and they kiss goodnight. A man and a woman flirt.
 A woman takes off her top and we see her in a sports bra and panties. A man lies in bed in his underwear and a T-shirt. A man pulls up his pants while dressing and we see his underwear briefly. Several men are shown with bare chests and abdomens during fraternity hazing. A man sketches the legs of a woman seated across from him. A male bull walks across the screen and its genitals are visible.
 A father and his adult son talk about the younger man making a young woman pregnant; the young man insists that he used a condom and the father says ,"I'll take care of this woman." A man asks a woman if she is a lesbian.


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VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - We see newsreel video of explosions from bombings, and we see armed soldiers walking through streets, and dead bodies strewn on the ground; we see one headless body and we see charred remains of several others, and wounded people with blood on their face and head.
 We see a young man who is missing his legs lying in a hospital bed and another who was badly burned on the face (we se charred flesh).
 A man chokes on a pretzel and he falls onto a table, stumbles across the room to a chair, throws himself against it trying to dislodge the pretzel and then falls to the floor and the pretzel pops out of his mouth. A man collapses while he is jogging and holds his chest.
 Several men are forced to kneel in a large tub of ice water and are forced to drink alcohol while being whipped by others with towels (this happens during fraternity hazing).
 A man and his father argue bitterly: they threaten to fight, one begins to move toward the other and another man stops him. A man and his boss have an argument and the man quits and walks out.
 A man with blood on his nose and his clothing is let out of a jail cell to take a phone call. A man is visibly upset when he loses an election. A man has a nightmare and wakes up screaming.
 We see newsreel footage of people pulling down the statue of a man and stomping on it. A man drives his car into a garage door (we see the crumpled door).
 People try to dissuade a man from starting a war. People talk about "enhanced interrogation techniques" and describe a few that will not result in death. People talk about whether or not a foreign leader has nuclear weapon capability. A man talks about wanting to "Take the sucker out" when referring to a foreign leader. People try to come up with a name for a speech and decide on "Axis of Evil."
 A man wakes up after a night of drinking and doesn't feel well (he moans and looks like he is going to vomit) and his wife asks him if he is going to throw up. A man uses the toilet (he's wearing underwear, we see him seated, he wipes and he flushes).

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 1 "mother frickin'," 2 obscene hand gestures, 4 sexual references, 7 scatological terms, 14 anatomical terms, 22 mild obscenities, an insult spoken in Greek that is not translated, name-calling (lunatics, nut, spoiled jerk, insane), 2 religious profanities, 2 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - Men smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol while playing poker, several men are forced to kneel in a large tub of ice water and are forced to drink alcohol and beer, two men drink alcohol from a bottle, a man drinks a beer, a woman drinks a shot of alcohol and a man drinks a beer in a bar, people drink alcohol at a cookout, a man drinks alcohol in several additional scenes, and a man drinks a non-alcoholic beer. A man uses chewing tobacco and spits a few times, a man smokes a cigar and appears to have a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth, men smoke cigarettes in a few scenes, women smoke cigarettes in several scenes, men smoke cigars in a few scenes, and people smoke cigarettes in a bar scene. During a political debate a man accuses another man of bribing voters (college students) with alcohol.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - President George W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush, the presidency, terrorism, war, tyranny, weapons of mass destruction, the invasion of Iraq, Iran, regime change, nuclear capabilities, torture, enhanced interrogation techniques, Saddam Hussein, sibling rivalry, parental disappointment, alcoholism, posturing, Anthrax, character, keeping your word, nation building, driving drunk, wealth, privilege, small pox, Guantanamo Bay, wire tapping, voting motivation, invasion and occupation of foreign countries, ego, peace, war, decisiveness, good vs. evil, failure, finding faith, being born again, freedom.

MESSAGE - Antagonism within one's family and sibling rivalry can lead to rush decisions.

(Note:: People are shown praying in the oval office after meetings that include discussing invading a country. A man says he had a divine calling to run for president.)

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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