“Snatch” (R, 1:43 min.) This ultra-hip, cleverly convoluted gangster spoof comes from writer/director Guy Ritchie, who made the similar “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels” (R) in 1998. College and twenty-something audiences could turn it into another cult hit, but it’s too violent and profane for those under 16, and an incredibly mean-spirited entertainment, too. Victims catch bullets mainly off-camera, but there’s plenty of on-screen blood and mayhem, including a sawed-off limb and bone-crunching, bare-fisted boxing. The thoroughly profane script includes crude verbal sexual innuendo, and there is occasional seminudity.
Set mostly in London, “Snatch” tracks a huge diamond stolen by a gang posing as Hasidic Jews, who then lose it to incompetent pawnbrokers. The tough guys who eventually get involved, all played with bravado, include a boxing promoter, a Yank diamond dealer and a band of Irish gypsies led by Brad Pitt, speaking a dialect so comically thick, no one understands him.
“Double Take” (PG-13, 1:23) “Double Take” is yet another action “buddy” comedy, and though mildly diverting, it never creates the sense that much is at stake, despite a plot full of hairpin turns. Orlando Jones and Eddie Griffin as the likable leads don’t generate much star power in their repartee. Still, teen audiences may latch onto the irreverent, smart-aleck, jive tone, which is the movie’s strongest asset. The PG-13 rating, stretched to the limit, reflects profanity, “Def Comedy Jam”-style racial slurs for comic effect, sexual innuendo and relatively bloodless mayhem.
Jones plays an uptight investment banker whose life turns upside down when he’s suspected of helping to launder a shady client’s drug money. He’s told by CIA and FBI operatives to flee temporarily to Mexico, which he does, never knowing who is the enemy. He’s also dogged by a boisterous street hustler (Griffin) whom he first encounters in New York. They switch identities, and hijinks ensue.
“The Pledge” (R, 2:04) Jack Nicholson plays a recently retired homicide detective obsessed with a child murder case in this slow, sad, ruminative character study/thriller directed by Sean Penn. Clues and red herrings abound (it’s based on a book by Friedrich Durrenmatt), but the mystery isn’t as rewarding as watching Nicholson and a crackerjack cast at work. High-schoolers with the patience for this sort of deliberately paced, nuanced film will swear by “The Pledge.” Inappropriate for teens under 15, the film has rare on-screen violence, save one graphic jail cell suicide. However, a bloodily murdered child is shown, as are photographs of other victims. When the police discuss the case, they imply that rape was involved. Nicholson’s cop drinks, chain-smokes and swears.
Retired detective Jerry Black (Nicholson) becomes convinced that a gruesome child murder discovered on the day of his retirement is part of a series of killings in rural Nevada. He makes a pledge to the grieving mother that he’ll solve the case, and moves to a small town where he thinks the killer may strike next. A single mom (Robin Wright Penn) and her daughter, whom he befriends, may be in harm’s way.
“The Amati Girls” (PG-13; Limited release) Mercedes Ruehl, Paul Sorvino, Cloris Leachman, Sean Young lead excellent, largely wasted cast in preachy, predictable, TV-style soaper about extended Italian-American family’s troubles, triumphs, though the retro story might move preteen, teen girls. Mild sexual innuendo; grief over a death.
Tots and older:
“The Emperor’s New Groove” G. Riotous, hip, animated feature about self-absorbed young emperor of ancient Peru, voiced by David Spade, who’s turned into whiny llama by conniving crone, voiced by Eartha Kitt; with John Goodman as kindly peasant who helps despite emperor/llama’s snooty ‘tude. Tots may quail at snarling jaguars. Should tickle all ages.
PGs:
“The House of Mirth” (limited release) Gillian Anderson as Lily Bart, a penniless debutante desperate to marry a millionaire in 1905 New York society, who missteps and becomes an outcast in handsome, well-acted, but static, airless adaptation of Edith Wharton novel. One character uses an opiate, probably laudanum; muted sexual innuendo; smoking. Thoughtful teen cinema buffs, avid readers.
PG-13s:
“Thirteen Days” Crisply riveting, finally gut-wrenching look at 1962 Cuban missile crisis from within Oval Office through eyes of Kevin Costner as JFK aide Kenneth P. O’Donnell, with excellent Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp as President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, respectively. Frequent mild profanity; much drinking; scary scene with U.S. spy plane over Cuba dodging anti-aircraft missiles.
“AntiTrust” Ryan Phillippe as young computer software genius encounters evil goings-on at a Microsoft-style company run by megalomaniac played by Tim Robbins, in slick-but-silly cyber-thriller that gets laughably overdramatic. Muted violence; sexual innuendo between unmarried adults; profanity.
“Save the Last Dance” Julia Stiles plays a white girl who enrolls in mostly African-American Chicago high school after coming to live with estranged dad following mother’s death; Sean Patrick Thomas as star student; their dance/romance upsets other black students, in candid, less-cliched teen flick. Low-level profanity; non-bloody fights, shootouts; teen drinking; gently implied sexual situation.
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh as middle-aged martial arts warriors with unspoken love, in pursuit of arrogant young fighter with stolen sword in ravishing blend of romance, gravity-defying battles in pre-Communist China. Mostly bloodless fights–occasional cuts, cracked bones; mild sexual situations. Subtitles.
“Finding Forrester” Sean Connery as famously reclusive author, mentors Rob Brown as brilliant inner-city teen. Occasional profanity, mild urban slang; sexual innuendo; upsetting scene when character has anxiety attack.
