Brady Bunch Movie, The

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Entertainment: +2 1/2

Content: -2 1/2

The immensely popular Brady Bunch TV series back in the early 1970's featured the cheerful Brady family with its well-behaved children and traditional values. Don't be fooled into thinking that the new BRADY BUNCH MOVIE is like that series. Instead, it's a crude spoof which sets the polite, wholesome Brady family in the troubled, crude environment of the 1990's. The Brady family with its six children lives in a middle class Los Angeles neighborhood right next to a couple obsessed with money and sex and their tough, rebellious teenager. But it's not funny to the Brady parents, Carol and Mike (Shelley Long and Gary Cole), when they find that their house will be put up for auction because of unpaid taxes. So all the family pitches in to find a way to pay the taxes. At times, the film is amusing, such as Carol taking great pride in feeding her family good, wholesome red meat. Young people may go for this film, but many others are likely to find it offensive.

Crude sexually oriented humor permeates the film. Many comedy scenes are developed around the family members being naive about sex and all the crudities around them. Most of the time, the movie laughs at the wholesome family instead of laughing with them. Boys at the school make crude remarks about sex and girls and a biology class lecture contains sexually explicit material just to shock and titillate. In one scene, a young Brady girl waves happily at a young man in his auto while he shouts an obscenity at her and gives a crude gesture. Particularly offensive are the sexual advances and remarks the housewife next door makes to the Brady boys. One comedy incident even suggests two young girls have lesbian tendencies. And to top it all off, a number of obscenities are spoken. All this in a film which many parents and youth will expect to be a clever, clean comedy. THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE will be a major disappointment to discerning audiences.

Preview Reviewer: John Evans
Distributor: Paramount Pictures, 15 Columbus Circle, NY, NY 10023

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Few (3) times- Mild

Obscene Language: Several (6) times (f-word 1, others including crude gesture, 5)

Profanity: Twice - One regular (G), one exclamatory

Violence: Few times - Mostly moderate, once severe (man suffers severe electric shock; man drops toilet seat on foot; girl's nose injured; man hit in groin with microphone)

Sex: None

Nudity: None

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Continuous, sometimes explicit (comical reference to boy's sexual development, sex, genitals, condoms, female reproductive organs and processes and breasts; woman makes sexual advances to young boys; boy puts head and hands on woman's breast; prostitutes portrayed; man/wife caress)

Drugs: Few times (whiskey drinking)

Other: Dog urinates on man; spoof on traditional values

Running Time:
Intended Audience: Adolescents through young adults

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