In the Cut

MPAA Rating: R

Entertainment: +1 1/2

Content: -4

This vulgar, erotic thriller, based on Susanna Moores novel, is about a NYU creative-writing professor, Frannie Avery (Meg Ryan), who goes from being romance-deprived to romance-depraved when she becomes sexually involved with Detective Malloy (Mark Ruffalo). While investigating a grisly murder, he finds a piece of the murder victims body outside of Frannies open bedroom window one night, and they meet. Frannies curiosity about the case plunges her into the grimy shadows of the inner city. As the affair increases its level of sexuality, she becomes suspicious of every male with whom she has contact, including an intense student (Sharrieff Pugh) and her ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon) who is stalking her. Shes horrified on the one hand by the unsolved murder and on the other is goaded by her promiscuous, dysfunctional half-sister, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to dive deeper into the salacious relationship.

The movie opens with two women pretending to be lesbians as they kiss each other on the lips. Then we see a man and woman committing disturbing sexual acts. The next scene is a topless woman performing self-gratification. Then the camera moves to a body so mutilated that the police cannot find all of the pieces. And so it goes, from the gruesome to the crude and back again. Meg Ryan casts aside her sweet, innocent image by taking her clothes off repeatedly in what is basically a pornographic film. In this journey to sexual darkness, the sexual encounters serve no purpose other than to reveal Meg Ryans attempt at a new intended to be serious but actually just sleazy role. The sex and nudity are gratuitous, extended and graphic; the dialog is unnecessarily vulgar with more than 60 f-words and lots of profanity; and the violence is gory. By now it goes without saying, but dont consider seeing it. It may be this years worst film.

Preview Reviewer: Blaine Butcher
Distributor: Screen Gems

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 (2) times mild (damn 1); strong (ass 1)

Obscene Language: Many (88+) times strong (F-word 60+, S-word 15, other 13)

Profanity: Several (8) times moderate (G 2); strong (GD 2, J1, JC 1, OG 1, OMG 1)

Violence: Many strong (man attacks woman in dark alley, woman hit by car, man holds womans head down, bloody picture of a severed head, man skates on ice and blood comes out of the ice)

Sex: Many strong (prolonged sexual encounters with nudity, unconventional sex, woman fantasizes and moans about man during self-gratification, woman puts her head into mans unclothed groin while he breathes heavily, man and woman undress in front of one another, man pulls off womans panties, man touches womans breasts, man slides his hand up womans leg, woman appears so lonely she agrees to casual sex with a stranger)

Nudity: Many strong (woman shown front and back nude for a long time, woman topless on bed, pictures of nude people on walls, womans breasts, womans bottom, man shown unclothed in bed with brief full frontal nudity)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Many strong (man talks to another man about having sex with a woman, man says woman wants to stimulate his private parts with her mouth, man tells woman he wants to be sexually active with her)

Drugs: Many mild (alcohol, smoking)

Other: Woman goes into a strip club, man is unfaithful to his wife, man threatens his wife, man stalks woman, man talks about murderer who mutilates people, man talks of murderer website)

Running Time: 118 minutes
Intended Audience: Adults

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