"COMMITTED" (2000) (Heather Graham, Luke Wilson) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild None Heavy Mild Mild Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild None None None Extreme Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate Mild Moderate Mild Moderate QUICK TAKE: Comedy: A woman does whatever it takes and goes to any extreme to save her marriage with her estranged husband. PLOT: Joline (HEATHER GRAHAM) is a young woman who's firmly committed to her marriage to Carl (LUKE WILSON), a photographer. Problem is, Carl isn't happy with his life, thinks he needs some space, and thus heads off to find it and presumably himself, but doesn't tell Joline where he's gone. Joline's carefree brother, Jay (CASEY AFFLECK), and his lesbian roommates, Mimi (CLEA DUVALL) and Jenny (KIM DICKENS), don't understand her obsession with making her apparently failed marriage work, and think she should get on with her life. She feels differently, however, and via a random decision, decides to head to Texas to look for Carl. She eventually finds him working for an El Paso newspaper, but decides to tail him for a while to see what he's been up to. By doing so, she ends up meeting Carmen (PATRICIA VELAZQUEZ), a Mexican American waitress whose presumed affair with Carl has angered her part-time lover, T-Bo (MARK RUFFALO). Joline also meets one of Carl's few desert-based neighbors, Neil (GORAN VISNJIC), while staking out his trailer home, as well as Carmen's grandfather, Grampy (ALFONSO ARAU), who tries to help her efforts by using various sorts of spiritual and mystical applications. As Joline and Carmen become fast friends and Jay eventually shows up to see what his sister's doing, Joline continues with her quest of following, eventually confronting, and trying to convince Carl that their marriage is worth saving. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Unless they're fans of someone in the cast, it's not very likely. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: HEATHER GRAHAM plays a woman so obsessed with saving her marriage (seemingly more for principle than love) that she takes extreme measures while trying to do so (including essentially stalking him). She also briefly uses some profanity. LUKE WILSON plays her estranged husband who's left her while trying to "find himself," although in reality he's already started seeing Carmen and started a new life for himself. He uses some strong profanity. CASEY AFFLECK plays Joline's carefree brother who also uses some strong profanity and seems to have an incestuous thing for her before getting involved with Carmen. PATRICIA VELAZQUEZ plays Carmen, a local waitress who uses strong profanity, apparently had an affair of some sort with Carl, and admits to sleeping with another man several times. ALFONSO ARAU plays her wise grandfather who tries using spiritual/mystical applications to help Joline with her quest. GORAN VISNJIC plays one of Carl's neighbors who hits on Joline (despite knowing she's married) when not fondling an anatomically correct, full-sized mannequin/doll. MARK RUFFALO plays Carmen's violent-tempered, part-time lover who uses strong profanity and wants to settle a score with Carl with the use of his switchblade. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a quick look at the material found in this R-rated comedy. Profanity is rated as extreme due to the use of 20+ "f" words, while other profanities and colorful phrases are also present. Some non-explicit, sexually related comments are made, there's talk or implication of sexual encounters, and a male character fondles an anatomically correct, full-sized female mannequin/doll (we see its realistic-looking bare breast). Some violence is present in the form of a man punching a woman and briefly knocking her unconscious, her then driving her assailant's car off the road, and later hitting a man with a bat and briefly knocking him unconscious after he threatened someone else with a switchblade. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, including a husband who's left his wife supposedly to "find himself," but seems to have found a new woman and life instead. As a result, some tense family scenes arise, although no children are involved. Beyond that, some drinking and smoking are present, as is one reference to drugs, while a brother and sister share a brief, but odd and somewhat incestuous kiss. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to take a closer look at our more detailed content listings for more specific examples of what occurs in the film. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE We see some pictures of people with champagne. People drink in a bar. People have drinks in a bar, including Joline. People drink beer at a party Joline throws for Carl, and a friend of hers tells her that he has some dope if she needs some. Neil offers a beer to Joline. When she refuses, he has one for himself. People have beer and drinks in a restaurant in several scenes (including one where Carmen - on the job - takes several sips from one customer's margarita). Joline and Neil share some sort of liquid/beverage from an odd container, but we never know whether the contents are alcoholic or not (it's possibly just water). People have drinks in a restaurant. Joline offers a beer (from her grocery bag) to a man but he declines. People have champagne and beer at a wedding. BLOOD/GORE None. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE We learn that Carl has left home without telling Joline where he's headed or when he'll return (he's trying to find himself and/or happiness). Joline later sees him kiss Carmen (thus suggesting an affair of some sort). Some may see Joline's obsession with saving her marriage when her husband obviously doesn't want the same thing (and that includes her essentially stalking him) as having both types of attitudes. We see a man trying to break into a car. Spotting Joline's broken down car and seeing her fleeing from him, a thug tries to steal her belongings from the car. Seeing this, she runs up and kicks him in the butt, causing him to chase and finally catch her. He then pins her to the ground and then punches her, knocking her out. He then steals her ring and other belongings. T-Bo is jealous of Carmen and Carl (although T-Bo and Carmen are not a serious item). While on the job, Carmen takes several sips from a customer's margarita. Joline sneaks/breaks into Carl's house. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" may be tense or suspenseful to some viewers, but they're played in more of a lighthearted, rather than menacing fashion. Grampy tells Joline to fetch him a rattlesnake in a metal drum (to test her faith in him) and she nearly reaches down for it before he stops her. Later, Grampy holds the live rattlesnake. GUNS/WEAPONS Switchblade: Brandished by T-Bo and later used to threaten Carl. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Shut the f*ck up," "What the f*ck am I doing?" "F*ck you," "You're suck a f*cking pr*ck," "Don't talk sh*t about my husband," "No sh*t," "Pissed off," "Jerk" and "Freaking." We see a couple who have multiple piercings all over their faces (lips, cheeks, etc.). Mad at Carmen for seeing Carl (but before she meets her), Joline stuffs a banana into her car's gas tank. Grampy carries a live rattlesnake. JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) None. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 22 "f" words, 8 "s" words, 3 slang terms using male genitals ("d*ck" and "pr*ck"), 5 asses, 1 damn, 1 hell, and 4 uses of "Oh my God," 3 of "God," 2 each of "G-damn" and "Swear to Christ" and 1 use of "My God" as exclamations. SEX/NUDITY Joline shows some cleavage in various outfits in various scenes. Joline asks her brother if one of his lesbian roommates is sleeping with him and he replies that it's not that often (although he later talks about it being about "cuddling"). Jay incestuously kisses Joline (she kisses him back - on the lips - but then says that she's married and that she's his sister and he says he knows that). We see Joline in the bathtub with only bubbles covering her torso in the water. A woman with a thug wears a small, bra-like top. Neil tells Joline that women who are completely committed to the men in their lives is a tremendous turn on for him. Carmen tells Joline that she's slept with T-Bo maybe seven or eight times. Neil wonders what kind of sex he'd have with Joline in relation to her breaking her conjugal vows. He then gets her to agree to close her eyes, with her not knowing what he'll do next. He then proceeds to run his hand down along her body, but just an inch away and never touching it, from her breasts down to her crotch (and she seems to get aroused by this). We, and others, see Neil (from a distance in his window) caressing and partially undressing a life-sized and partially realistic doll/mannequin (eventually exposing its realistic looking bare breast). During this, Jay talks about Neil playing with himself and we then see that the doll/mannequin's panties are down. Jay and Carmen make out in a car and he then reclines the front seat back for them (thus they disappear from our view). Joline finds some reading material in Carl's bathroom that includes some sort of adult cartoon featuring busty women (with all of the dialogue and narrative in Spanish). Jay and Carmen share a sleeping bag, but we don't see anything happen between them. SMOKING Neil smokes around four times, while Mimi smokes once, Jay is seen with two unlit cigarettes in his mouth, and various miscellaneous characters smoke in various scenes. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Obviously, Joline and Carl's marriage is rather rocky as he leaves her (although no kids are involved). When they later meet again, he tells her that it's time for her to go and that he can't stand having her around anymore. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Joline's obsession with saving her marriage, and whether that seems based more on the principle of the matter or true love she has for her husband. Jay incestuously kisses Joline (she kisses him back - on the lips - but then says that she's married and that she's his sister and he says he knows that). VIOLENCE Most of what's listed below is presumably intended to be played in more of a lighthearted fashion rather than as a menacing or dangerous occurrence. Spotting Joline's broken down car and seeing her fleeing from him, a thug tries to steal her belongings from the car. Seeing this, she runs up and kicks him in the butt, causing him to chase and finally catch her. He then pins her to the ground and then punches her, knocking her out. To retaliate, Joline smashes her car into the thug's car (also carrying his presumed girlfriend), sending it rolling down a ravine (although neither are killed from that). Joline imagines seeing herself kicking a grocery bag from Jay's hand and then kicking him several times. Joline throws a pot at Carl's car, and then does the same with a large rock that breaks the passenger side window. T-Bo takes one of Carmen's potted plants and throws it to her kitchen floor where it shatters. After seeing T-Bo threatening Carl with a switchblade, Joline hits him with a baseball bat, temporarily knocking him unconscious. Joline delivers a karate kick to Carl's midsection (as a sort of cathartic thing). Reviewed April 25, 2000 / Posted May 5, 2000

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