The following are recently-released movies reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
‘New Year’s Eve’ (Warner Bros.)
Painfully forced romantic comedy tracking the sometimes intersecting paths of, among others, the executive (Hilary Swank) in charge of the titular holiday’s iconic celebration in New York’s Times Square, the rock star (Jon Bon Jovi) headlining the evening’s entertainment there, the up-and-coming caterer (Katherine Heigl) to whom the rocker was once engaged, and one of his backup singers (Lea Michele) who finds herself trapped in an elevator for hours with a New Year’s-averse slacker (Ashton Kutcher). Also thrown into the ensemble are Robert De Niro as a dying hospital patient, Halle Berry as his faithful nurse, Michelle Pfeiffer as an inhibited middle aged office worker out for adventure and Zac Efron as the bike messenger she enlists to help her find it. Reuniting for a follow-up to 2010’s “Valentine’s Day,” director Garry Marshall and screenwriter Katherine Fugate weave a web of love stories largely free of the moral tangles that marred their earlier collaboration. A few one-liners aside, though, the humor falls flat, while the script’s strained effort to transform Dec. 31 into a kind of secular High Holy Day is simply irritating. Some sexual references and humor, at least one use of the F-word, occasional crude language and crass slang. The CNS classification is A-III--adults. The MPAA rating is PG-13--parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
‘The Sitter’ (Fox)
A schlubby college student (Jonah Hill) becomes the unlikely baby sitter for three troubled children (Max Records, Landry Bender and Kevin Hernandez). With the kids in tow, he visits a drug dealer to buy cocaine. But the deal goes awry, and he spends the rest of the night hurtling around New York City trying to make things right and “solving” problems for the kids with a series of oversimplified lectures. Amid these supposedly humorous adventures, director David Gordon Green’s film runs the gamut of degradation while attempting to pass off felony child endangerment as comedy. An explicit nonmarital sex act, fleeting profanity, acceptance of homosexual activity, pervasive rough, crude and crass language, frequent references to drug use, body functions and pedophilia, racial stereotyping. The CNS classification is O--morally offensive. The MPAA rating is R--restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Forbes is director and Mulderig is on the staff of the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting. More reviews are available Online at www.usccb.org/movies.
