Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this Kevin Smith comedy about amateur porn filmmakers -- which was rated R on appeal after initially receiving an NC-17 -- is packed with coarse, crude language and situations, including explicit depictions of sex acts and full-frontal nudity. Characters are seen having sex with people they don't know very well, with no mention of safe-sex practices or contraception. In one of the film's more over-the-top sight gags, a character filming a sex scene is sprayed with feces. Language includes every four-letter word under the sun and them some, and there are plenty of body part/function terms and racial/sexual epithets as well. Two homosexual characters (one of whom is portrayed very flamboyantly) are shown in a loving, committed relationship.
Sexual
Content
Constant explicit vulgar sexual references and situations, including frequent full-frontal male and female nudity, sexual acts depicted on screen, references to sex acts, and extensive discussions of heterosexual and homosexual activity in explicit terms. Discussion of the challenges of making adult films; discussion of the difference between sex and love, and between fidelity and promiscuity. Sex toys simulating portions of male and female anatomy are discussed or shown on-screen. Kissing. Promiscuous sex with multiple partners, with no mention of contraception or safer sex practices. A scene is set at a strip club. A woman blows a soap bubble with, presumably, her genitals. Discussion of sexual arousal, sexual techniques, and sexual practices.
Violence
A punch is thrown in the course of a hockey game, earning the offender a penalty. Some use of phrases like "Take it!" during sex scenes.
Language
Pretty much every extremely profane term there is. Constant explicit vulgar sexual references.
Social
Behavior
The message that making a porno will solve money problems is obviously problematic. The movie seems to be saying that sex and love and friendship are very different and complicated things.
Consumerism
Extensive mention of pop culture figures and celebrities, including Oprah, Rosie O'Donnell, Meryl Streep, and more. The filmmaking group's first effort is a pornographic film inspired by the Star Wars series, so there are multiple references to (and naughty variations on) Star Wars character names and plot lines. Films and TV shows mentioned include Amistad, Gandhi, Glenngarry Glen Ross, Buck Rogers, To Catch a Predator, MacGyver, Highlander, Hannah Montana, The Wiz, Girls Gone Wild, Brokeback Mountain, Mad magazine, Ziggy, Spider-Man,Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy, and Lost. Brands visible on-screen include Mac computers; brands mentioned include Ronald McDonald, Jergens, Nickelodeon, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Ex-Lax, DreamWorks, YouTube, and more.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Characters drink hard liquor and beer and smoke cigarettes. Characters talk about hoping to drink until they get "alcohol poisoning" and how "I'm gonna binge drink until I black out." Drinking games are played.
