Slums Of Beverly Hills MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 1/2 Content: -2 1/2

Fourteen year old Vivian (Natasha Lyonne) recently matured physically and feels deformed since her breasts seem over-developed. She lives with her divorced, 65 year old father Murray (Alan Arkin) and two brothers. Murray has fallen on hard times so they move from apartment to apartment as the rent come due. But they stay in the city limits of Beverly Hills so the kids can go to a good school. Murray's brother, a wealthy business man has a 29 year old daughter, Rita (Marisa Tomei), with a drug problem. Rita escapes from a drug rehab hospital and goes to Beverly Hills to find Murray. Murray lets Rita move in to teach Vivian about woman things and, at the same time, get his brother to finance their current stay. Vivian helps Rita get to nursing school on time, while Rita teaches Vivian about adult women things. Vivian plans on getting a breast reduction but discovers part of her family heritage is in her looks. Sometimes humorous and sometimes poignant, this coming of age story and discovering what family means lacks enough sparkle to draw large crowds. Much of the crude sexual humor deals with Vivian's breasts. The opening scene has her in a bra shop where the saleswomen tells her "breasts are wonderful." Several other ladies are seen in the background also trying on bras. Murray later tells her to wear her bra with a halter top. Moving into a new place, a neighboring boy, who admits to being a "pot" dealer, is attracted to Vivian. Her younger brother discovers a long dead cat in the oven. In the laundry room, Vivian lets the neighbor feel her breasts without taking her sweater off, but stops any ideas of going further.

Breast nudity is shown several times and a few scenes show the brothers in their underwear. Rita is shown in her underwear a couple of times and one scene has her towel fall in front of her male cousins. Blood is seen on a chair when Vivian starts her menstrual period and an older woman offers her a sanitary pad and belt. She also learns Rita is pregnant by a guy she met at the rehab center. A scene of the girls dancing with a vibrator is crudely humorous and Vivian's face is shown as she later uses the vibrator for sexual purposes. Other crude humor involves her giving a urine sample to Rita for nursing school so they won't learn of the pregnancy. The sample spills, splashing on Vivian. She also loses her virginity with the drug dealer in the backseat of a car. A couple of brief violent scenes occur as Murray tells of stabbing a fork into his restaurant chef's leg which turns up hidden steaks. Vivian later stabs her uncle in the leg as he belittles Murray. Filled with crude humor, foul language, nudity and sexual content, the SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS are not a place to visit.

Preview Reviewer: Paul Bicking
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures