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"RETURN TO ME"
(2000) (David Duchovny, Minnie Driver) (PG)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Moderate Mild Minor Mild None
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Minor None None None Mild
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Mild Mild Heavy Moderate *Mild


QUICK TAKE:
Romantic Comedy: A widower and a heart transplant recipient start dating without either knowing that her new heart originally belonged to his deceased wife.
PLOT:
Bob (DAVID DUCHOVNY) and Elizabeth Rueland (JOELY RICHARDSON) are a happily married couple with rewarding careers and a promising future ahead of them. While Bob's a successful architect, Elizabeth is working hard to create a new gorilla habitat at the Chicago zoo where she works.

Grace Briggs (MINNIE DRIVER), on the other hand, has a nebulous future. Having inherited a genetically weak heart from her late mother, Grace is quite sick and she and her grandfather, Marty O'Reilly (CARROLL O'CONNOR), who runs the local Irish-Italian restaurant with his buddy, Angelo Pardipillo (ROBERT LOGGIA), can only hope and wait for a donor heart to give her a new shot at life.

Fortunately, for her, but quite tragic for Bob, Elizabeth is killed in a car accident, but her heart is transplanted into Grace. While Bob understandably goes into shock and deep depression, Grace gets healthier and after some time, is as good as new.

As such, her extended family and friends, including her best friend, Megan Dayton (BONNIE HUNT), and her blue-collar husband, Joe (JAMES BELUSHI), think she should start dating. With a year having passed by, Bob's friend, Charlie Johnson (DAVID ALAN GRIER), a veterinarian who worked with Elizabeth, thinks the same and tries fixing up Bob on a blind double date.

That event just so happens to take place at O'Reilly's where Grace is serving tables and the sparks immediately fly between her and Bob, although neither knows of their unique connection to each other. As a relationship soon buds and then blossoms between the two, it's only a matter of time before one or the other figures out their special connection and must then deal with such knowledge.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
If they're fans of Duchovny (of TV's "The X-Files), Driver or romantic comedies in general, they just might.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG
For language and thematic elements.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • DAVID DUCHOVNY plays an architect who finds love once again after tragically losing his wife. While understandably bitter and depressed at first, he brightens up upon meeting Grace. He also briefly cusses.
  • MINNIE DRIVER plays the self-conscious woman who receives his late wife's heart and must deal with bouts of insecurity about anyone being interested in her due to the operation she had.
  • CARROLL O'CONNOR plays her loving grandfather and matchmaker in training, while ROBERT LOGGIA plays his pal and business partner who briefly cusses.
  • BONNIE HUNT plays Grace's best friend and repository of advice about dating.
  • JAMES BELUSHI plays her salt of the Earth, blue-collar husband who cusses some and drinks beer.
  • DAVID ALAN GRIER plays Bob's friend who tries setting him back up in the dating world.
  • 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:
    The following is a brief look at the content found in this PG-rated comedy. Profanity consists of several uses of the "s" word, along with a handful of other profanities and colorful phrases (some of which are repeated by a child for comic effect). A few non-explicit, sexually related comments are also made.

    A character dies from injuries sustained in a car accident (neither the accident nor the actual death are seen, although a brief moment in the E.R. - with some blood - is). That, the ensuing grief and subsequent heart transplant, are moments/themes that might be confusing or possibly disturbing to younger viewers.

    Beyond some drinking and smoking, however, the rest of the film's remaining categories have little or nothing in the way of other objectionable material. Even so, and as always, should you still be concerned about the film's content in regards to anyone in your home who wishes to see this picture, you may want to more closely examine our detailed content listings for more specific information.


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • People have drinks at a reception.
  • People have wine at O'Reilly's restaurant.
  • Some of Grace's family and friends have wine while waiting at the hospital during Grace's transplant.
  • Charlie asks Bob if he wants to go and get a beer, but Bob declines the offer.
  • People have drinks at O'Reilly's restaurant.
  • Joe has a beer.
  • Charlie and some women have drinks in a bar.
  • Some of the men playing poker also drink.
  • Charlie has a beer at a bowling alley.
  • Bob and Grace have wine.
  • Joe has a beer.
  • Bobs pour some wine for Grace and himself (she downs hers in one gulp).
  • Bob and Charlie have beer in a park.
  • Marty and a friend have beer.
  • People have drinks at a wedding reception.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • Bob has blood on him, while Elizabeth has the same on her, her shirt and the gurney on which she's being transported (after a car wreck).
  • There's some blood around the bag holding the transplanted heart.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Bob's blind date is obnoxious and somewhat condescending/demeaning toward Grace who's acting as her waitress in the restaurant.
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • Bob escorts Elizabeth on a gurney as she's transported into the emergency room after a violent car accident (not seen) that's left her severely injured and him somewhat bloody.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • None.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "I don't give a sh*t," "I'll kick the sh*t out of him for you," "Holy sh*t," "Nuts" (crazy), "Smart ass," "Shut your trap" and "Rat bastard."
  • JUMP SCENES
  • None.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • None.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None.
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 4 "s" words, 1 slang term for breasts ("boob"), 6 hells, 4 asses, 3 S.O.B.s, 1 damn, 6 uses of "Oh my God," 4 of "God," 3 of "G-damn," 2 of "Swear to God" and 1 use each of "For Christ's sakes," "For God's sakes," "My God, "Oh God," "God forsaken," "Jesus, Mary & Joseph" and "Oh Christ" as exclamations.
  • Some of that includes one of Joe and Megan's young kids who repeats some of the profanity for intended comic effect.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • After a question is made about what's most expected from a relationship, Elizabeth answers "sex."
  • Charlie's date at a reception shows a lot of cleavage in her low-cut dress.
  • A woman jokes about stopping at the "Pussycat Club" after hearing that one of the strippers there quit (we don't see the place).
  • Charlie tries to get Bob to go out with a woman by stating, "she has a great body."
  • Bob's blind date shows a lot of cleavage.
  • Some women in a bar with Charlie show cleavage.
  • Joe tells Megan, "We can do it" after he notes that their kids are in bed. When the kids ask what he's doing, Joe tells that he's "trying to put mom to bed too."
  • Grace shows a little bit of cleavage while examining the scar on her chest.
  • Megan tells Grace not to shave her legs before her date since that will keep things from "going too far" and that doing so "kept me a virgin until..." (but she doesn't finish the thought).
  • Bob asks Grace, "You had a sex dream about me?" as she tries to explain (in a roundabout way) why she smacked him (and she states that she did not have such a dream).
  • Bob kisses down Grace's neck but they're interrupted before anything else happens.
  • SMOKING
  • One of the restaurant regulars smokes cigars several times while one of Bob's construction workers also smokes a few times.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Bob must deal with Elizabeth's unexpected death and he grieves for some time.
  • Grace mentions that her mom died when she was five and that her dad then took off.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • Losing a loved one.
  • Organ donors and transplants.
  • How the two should have reacted upon learning of their unique connection.
  • VIOLENCE
  • Although the car accident is not seen, Elizabeth dies from injuries sustained in it.
  • Grace reflexively smacks Bob when she thinks he's going to see her chest scar.



  • Reviewed March 7, 2000 / Posted April 7, 2000

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