Don Juan DeMarco MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 Content: -2

Who is this masked young man, dressed like Zorro, claiming to be Don Juan, the world's greatest lover? Psychiatrist Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando) must find out before he retires from the staff of the State Mental Hospital in Queens, New York, in ten days. Don Juan DeMarco (Johnny Depp) has been brought to the hospital after a suicide attempt. The dashing stranger tells Dr. Mickler that he is despondent because he has lost his one true love. Through flashbacks he tells a romantic tale of living in Mexico as a little boy acutely aware of his ability to charm women. At age 16 his first love affair with a married woman ends tragically. Fleeing Mexico, the boy ends up in a Turkish sultan's harem. Later, as the sole survivor of a shipwreck, he finds himself on the remote island of Eros. There he meets the love of his life, but she rejects him when he confesses he has been with 1,502 other women. These romantic fantasies begin to affect Dr. Mickler. He realizes his 32-year marriage has become dull, dull, dull. His wife (Faye Dunaway) is pleasantly surprised as her husband becomes more loving. This light, romantic comedy is a crowd pleaser, and the performances of Depp and Brando delightful.

Don Juan's fantasies reveal various stages of female nudity and include some fairly explicit sex scenes. In the harem sequence, all of the sultan's wives are seen nude from a distance. From the time he is a teenager, no woman can refuse Don Juan's advances. The young man sincerely believes his mission in life is to make women happy. He poetically describes his intimate feelings about sex and the female body. One of the psychiatrists announces that more nurses than patients are on valium since the arrival of Don Juan, presenting a real problem for the hospital. As the film progresses, Jack and Don Juan reverse roles as patient and doctor. Jack becomes convinced that Don Juan's fantasy approach to life has more merit than his own realistic one. This change in attitude makes the doctor a more loving and sensitive husband, not a promiscuous one. A few regular profanities and obscenities mar the dialogue, and violence includes a duel where both parties are killed, but it is not gratuitous. Even though Don Juan's fantasies hide his deep sadness and loneliness, his promiscuity is portrayed as charming and glamourous.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: NewLine Cinema, 575 8th Avenue, 16th Flr, NY, NY 10018