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"IN THE MIX" (2005) (Usher, Emmanuelle Chriqui) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Moderate Mild Extreme Moderate Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild None Moderate Mild Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy Mild Moderate Moderate Heavy QUICK TAKE: Dramedy: A hip-hop deejay finds himself falling for the mafia princess he's agreed to protect. PLOT: Darrell Williams (USHER) is a successful deejay who, with his partner Busta (KEVIN HART), dreams of opening his own recording studio some day. Buff and handsome, Darrell has no problem impressing the ladies ranging from club-goer Cherise (K.D AUBERT) to his 10-year-old neighbor Lexi (ISIS FAUST) and her guardian, Big Momma (JENNIFER ECHOLS). Although it won't mean any money for them, Darrell agrees to spin the tunes gratis for his old friend Frankie Jr. (ANTHONY FAZIO), the hip-hop loving son of mafioso 'Don' Frank Pacelli (CHAZZ PALMINTERI). Darrell's dad used to work as Frank's bartender, and thus Darrell is something like another son to him. And Frank would like him to provide the music for a surprise party held in honor of his daughter Dolly (EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI) who the deejay hasn't seen in years. She's returned home to New Jersey from Oakland where she's attending law school and dating successful lawyer Chad (GEOFF STULTS) who's aiming to become a partner at his firm. Yet, during the celebration, a drive-by shooting occurs, and thanks to Darrell's quick actions, he manages to save both Dolly and her father from harm, but gets shot in the shoulder in the process. Frank's minions -- Fat Tony (ROBERT COSTANZO), Fish (ROBERT DAVI) and the hot-headed Jackie (MATT GERALD) -- think rival mob boss Salvatore Vincenzo (NICK MANCUSO) is responsible, but Frank wants to make sure before they act rashly. He also wants someone to serve as Dolly's bodyguard, but when she refuses the usual suspects, he hesitantly agrees to let Darrell take the job when Dolly specifically requests him. Dolly really doesn't want anyone hovering over her, but Darrell feels beholden to Frank. Yet, as the dashing deejay and mob princess end up spending time together, they start to develop feelings for one another. While dealing with that awkward situation, they must also contend with more attempts on her life, all stemming from a coup within the mob. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans of Usher or someone else in the cast, they just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For sexual content, violence and language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: USHER plays a successful deejay who's popular with the ladies and ends up falling for Dolly despite agreeing to serve as her bodyguard for her dad. Despite her somewhat being like a step-sister to him and her having a boyfriend, he ends up sleeping with her. He also takes two bullets while keeping her and her dad from harm. EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI plays Frank's attractive daughter who has a boyfriend in Chad and is attending law school. She hates that her dad thinks she needs a round-the-clock bodyguard, and initially dislikes Darrell's way of charming everyone, but she eventually falls for and sleeps with him. CHAZZ PALMINTERI plays her dad, a mafioso who's akin to Darrell's second father. Even so, he turns on him when he learns he's been romantic with Dolly, all while dealing with someone trying to kill him and his daughter. KEVIN HART plays Darrell's deejay partner who's often talking about strip clubs or strippers. ANTHONY FAZIO plays Dolly's brother, a white guy who dresses, acts and talks like a stereotypical hip-hop guy. MATT GERALD plays one of Frank's goons who's assigned to tail Darrell and Dolly, but turns out to be bad. He smokes a few times, briefly uses strong profanity and threatens people with a gun (ending up shooting Darrell in the shoulder). ROBERT COSTANZO and ROBERT DAVI play the rest of Frank's immediate muscle, with the former being a big eater and the latter smoking a few times. GEOFF STULTS plays Dolly's career-minded boyfriend who doesn't feel comfortable in a black section of town while dining with Darrell and Dolly, but finds himself attracted to Cherise. NICK MANCUSO plays the rival mafioso who claims he has nothing to do with the attempts on Frank and Dolly's lives. ISIS FAUST plays Darrell's 10-year-old neighbor who catches him making out with Cherise and then wonders if he and Dolly have had sex. K.D AUBERT plays a club-goer who's sexually attracted to Darrell. 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 summary of the content found in this dramedy that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. Sexually related dialogue is present (including from a 10-year-old girl), while off-screen sex is implied after we see some steamy, passionate making out. Other such making out occurs (with one teasing of oral sex that then turns out to be something else), while the camera focuses on various women's bodies (including one who's short skirt reveals her revealing thong bottom). A woman is seen in a bikini, a buff man is seen shirtless various times, while a woman is seen in the shower (but nothing explicit is shown). Violence consists of people attempting to kill others via gunfire and other methods. People are wounded and some may be killed by such actions, but only one death (from unseen violence) is for certain. A man repeatedly dunks another man's head under the water as a means of torture. Some of those scenes have a little bit of bloody results, while they could also be unsettling or suspenseful for very young viewers or those with low tolerance levels for such material (but probably to few others). Meanwhile, various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes. Some crude humor is briefly present, as are some tense family moments between a father and daughter when he worries about her safety and she thinks he's smothering her. Various characters drink, some smoke and some potentially imitative behavior is present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, various scenes set in the club where Darrell works feature near or full strobe effects, especially near the end of the film. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Miscellaneous people drink at Dolly's surprise party (wine and cocktails), followed by a champagne toast by Frank. We hear that Darrell's father was Frank's bartender. Darrell and Dolly reminisce that seven years ago (as kids) they snuck some champagne at a party and passed it off as something nonalcoholic. After Darrell says that Frank is a businessman (rather than a mafioso), Busta jokes that if that's the case, Snoop Dogg is an herbalist (a drug reference). Miscellaneous people have wine in a restaurant. We see wine in front of Frank. Frank's family and Chad have wine with dinner. Frank wants Chad to have more, but he declines the offer, citing work he needs to do. Busta talks about some stripper who's so flexible she can drink wine "off her ass." Frank has a drink by him and then takes a sip. We see beer around various people (including Darrell, Dolly, Busta and several others) as they play poker. People have drinks at a wedding reception. BLOOD/GORE Darrell has a tiny bit of blood on his shirt from where he was shot in the shoulder. Dolly reacts to the pungent smell of a silent fart (with others saying it was from a bulldog). Frank's men find a dead mobster in their car trunk. Fish says that the only way to identify him is to check for a glass eye and we then hear the wet sound of Fish pulling that fake eye from the socket (we later see him holding it in a later scene, but it looks clean). We see a tiny bit of blood on a thug's head after he's knocked out or killed, while Darrell has a tiny bit of blood on his shirt after he's shot in the shoulder. Lexi reacts to the smell of a silent fart from a bulldog, but a guy jokingly says that it was him. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Those who attempt to kill Frank and Dolly (and who apparently kill at least one other person) obviously have bad attitudes. Lexi lies about Darrell having another girl at his place the day before to make Cherise leave (later saying she didn't think the young woman was right for him). Dolly only chose Darrell since she would use him as a decoy for her father's demand that she have a constant bodyguard. While in a Soul Food restaurant, Chad nervously checks to make sure he still has his wallet and Darrell assures him he does, even after the fifth such check. Dolly cheats on Brad by making out and eventually sleeping with Darrell. Jackie tells Dolly that Darrell has "jungle fever" for her (a racist comment). Frank orders for Dolly to end her relationship with Darrell. We see that one of Frank's goons is in cahoots with another bad guy to cause all of the problems within the mob. Jackie lies to Frank on the phone, saying that he saw Dolly and Darrell "really going at it." FRIGHTENING SCENES Some of the following scenes could be unsettling or suspenseful for very young viewers or those with low tolerance levels for such material, but probably to few if any others. During Dolly's party, Darrell spots a car pull up and a man pull out a gun. Darrell yells "Gun!" and then dives toward Frank and Dolly to protect them, getting hit in the shoulder in the process as gunfire erupts and shatters the establishment's front windows. Frank's men then return fire at the car as it races away. As Dolly goes to cross the street, Darrell grabs and yanks her out of the way of a quickly approaching SUV that never slows down (presumably an attempt on her life). Jackie enters the club and pushes Darrell to make him get away from Dolly, prompting Darrell to push him back. Jackie then pulls his gun and aims it at Darrell, causing others to grab Jackie while Darrell, Dolly and others flee the scene. Mad upon learning that Darrell and Dolly are romantically/sexually involved, Frank suddenly turns mean and has Fat Tony grab Darrell, throw him into a small pool and then repeatedly dunk his head underwater. Later, we see Darrell tossed out of their car onto the sidewalk. A thug holds his gun on Darrell, and we then see that he and another bad guy have Dolly bound and gagged. A gun battle breaks out between Frank and two thugs, with him shooting one of them and the other making his way through a club where strobe and fog effects are in full force. We then see that the other thug has Dolly hostage and he shoots Darrell in his shoulder when he tries to rescue her. The thug then prepares to deal out more violence when a large disco ball is let loose from the ceiling. It then falls and smashes onto his head, knocking him out or killing him. GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or attempt to kill others. See "Violence" for details. We briefly see Busta playing a first-person shooter video game where animated characters are blasted. We see Jackie with a switchblade. While playing poker and short on cash, two men bet with their handguns during a hand. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Oh f*ck," "Piece of sh*t," "Holy sh*t," "Done the nasty" (had sex), "Fly honeys" (women), "For shizzle," "Aw-right," "Dawg," "Hell no," "Get over it," "Who the hell knows," "Balls" (testicles), "You still got game," "I'm down with that," "Oh, damn," "You look fly," "Hit me with that again?" "I am damn serious," "Have you lost your damn mind?" "What the hell /you'd bring that for?" "Melan" (short for melenzana -- Italian for eggplant -- what Jackie repeatedly calls Darrell), "Straight up," "Chill," "You bastard," "Fool," "Get your ass out of here," "Bitch" (man), "Shut up," "Punks" and "Phat." Frankie Jr. acts, dresses and speaks like a stereotypical black hip-hop player. Frankie Jr. and others do various hip-hop style gestures with their hands and arms, etc. Dolly wears a slight, midriff-revealing top, while some miscellaneous women wear ones that show more. JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A moderate amount of suspenseful music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) Some songs had lyrics that we couldn't fully hear or understand, thus offering the possibility of them potentially containing objectionable material. A song has a lyric where the guy sings a woman is so sexy he can't get her out of his mind. A song repeats the lyric, "You want to grind." PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word, 2 "s" words, 2 slang terms for sex ("done the nasty" and "spun"), 1 for male genitals ("junk"), 1 for breasts ("boobs"), 10 damns, 6 hells, 3 asses, 2 uses each of "God" and "Oh my God" and 1 use of "Jesus Christ." SEX/NUDITY During the opening credits, the camera focuses on various women's bodies as they dance in the club where Darrell works. That includes a close-up view of one in a very short skirt that occasionally flies up as she dances, thus showing most of her bare butt in her thong bottom, and we also see some views of cleavage. We see Darrell passionately kissing Cherise back at his place while standing. She then goes down his body out of the camera shot and we see his expression (making us think oral sex). He then asks if she "found them." We then see her head by his crotch (his low-riding pants show the top of his boxers), but he's referring to his keys that she has now retrieved from his pants. The two enter his place, he removes his shirt, she wraps her legs around his waist as he carries her and he then gets on top of her on the sofa, but young Lexi then shows up and interrupts them. Cherise then leaves when Lexi comments on a girl who was there the day before, but we then learn that Lexi made that up as she doesn't think Cherise is right for him. A song has a lyric where the guy sings a woman is so sexy he can't get her out of his mind. We see Darrell lying shirtless on a bed while recuperating from a gunshot wound to his shoulder (a large bandage is there). Busta says that to celebrate Darrell surviving being shot, they should go to a strip club and then lists other reasons anyone would go (but they never do). While a tailor fits Darrell for a suit, he tells Darrell that his pants are too big. Darrell jokes that he needs the room (as he grabs his crotch area), but when the tailor measures his inseam, Darrell tells him to watch the "junk" (presumably referring to his genitals). Seeing Darrell in a yoga session with Dolly, her friend says she wouldn't mind getting stuck with him (after Dolly says she is), while a male staffer comments on Darrell being quite the package. While exercising, Darrell then catches sight of various women's clothed butts (in tight attire) sticking up in the air as part of a yoga move and he enjoys the view. The female yoga instructor then taps Darrell on his clothed butt in the same position. We see some bare midriffs and cleavage in a yoga session. Dolly's friend shows a lot of cleavage and then starts to ask Darrell why her boyfriend did something, but Darrell finishes her thought by saying going to a strip club. Darrell then defends men doing that, with one of the women sarcastically commenting on "boobs bouncing around in your face." Busta talks about some stripper who's so flexible she can drink wine "off her ass." Darrell finds Dolly swimming in a small bikini (that shows some cleavage) in the pool at night. She gets him to join her, so he removes his shirt and jumps in (while still wearing his jeans). She then somewhat comes on to him in the pool, but nothing comes of that. Cherise nearly always shows cleavage in the various tops she wears. Cherise suggestively tells Darrell that she's going to go home, take a shower, get into bed and leave the door unlocked (he doesn't take her up on her offer). Darrell and Dolly briefly, but passionately kiss while clothed and standing, but stop when a cat makes a sound that startles them. A song repeats the lyric, "You want to grind." Seeing how slim Dolly is, Big Momma says that the food she's making will "give baby some back" (while playfully slapping Dolly on her clothed butt). 10-year-old Lexi asks Dolly if she and Darrell "have done the nasty." Dolly is taken aback by that, says they haven't, but then tells her that she does like Darrell. Seeing a woman who's obviously attracted to Darrell in his club, Dolly says she bets he's "spun her." The camera goes up Dolly's body as she dances. Dolly asks Darrell if he ever thought about them together, with him replying that thinking and doing are two different things. The two then passionately kiss while standing and start removing the outer layers of each other's clothing (and the camera occasionally focuses on her chest in her top that's akin to a tank-top). He then picks her up and starts to lower her down toward something unseen, but the scene goes to slow motion and fades out before we see anything else. Sex is implied and the next morning the two are asleep on the sofa (partially dressed, but no nudity). We see a head and shoulders and then overhead view of Dolly taking a shower, but don't see any explicit nudity. Jackie lies to Frank on the phone, saying that he saw Dolly and Darrell "really going at it." Busta sings along to his unheard headset, repeating lyrics about "sweet, sweet booty...I gotta get it..." We see some miscellaneous cleavage. A dog appears to hump a guy's leg (briefly seen). SMOKING Both Jackie and Fish (cigarette and cigar) each smoke several times, while a miscellaneous character smokes a cigar. TENSE FAMILY SCENES There's brief talk that both of Darrell's parents are dead, while we hear that Frank's wife is also dead. Dolly is upset with her dad informing her that she now needs a bodyguard all of the time, complaining that he's treating her like a child. Dolly feels the pressure from her dad to marry Chad. Dolly tells her father, "You do not control me." Frank orders for Dolly to end her relationship with Darrell. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The mafia. The differences and similarities between different aspects of various ethnic groups. Dolly feels the pressure from her dad to marry Chad. While in a Soul Food restaurant, Chad nervously checks to make sure he still has his wallet and Darrell assures him he does, even after the fifth such check. Frank orders for Dolly to end her relationship with Darrell. VIOLENCE During Dolly's party, Darrell spots a car pull up and a man pull out a gun. Darrell yells "Gun!" and then dives toward Frank and Dolly to protect them, getting hit in the shoulder in the process as gunfire erupts and shatters the establishment's front windows. Frank's men then return fire at the car as it races away. We briefly see Busta playing a first-person shooter video game where animated characters are blasted. The two mobsters' hotheaded assistants have to be separated at a meeting when they go at each other. We see that Salvatore's car was apparently bombed (we only see the mangled steering wheel as proof of that). Jackie enters the club and pushes Darrell to make him get away from Dolly, prompting Darrell to push him back. Jackie then pulls his gun and aims it at Darrell, causing others to grab Jackie while Darrell, Dolly and others flee the scene. Mad upon learning that Darrell and Dolly are romantically/sexually involved, Frank suddenly turns mean and has Fat Tony grab Darrell, throw him into a small pool and then repeatedly dunk his head underwater. Later, we see Darrell tossed out of their car onto the sidewalk. Frank's men find a dead mobster in their car trunk (from unseen violence). Dolly smacks Jackie. A gun battle breaks out between Frank and two thugs, with him shooting one of them (we don't know the fate) and the other making his way through a club where strobe and fog effects are in full force. We then see that the other thug has Dolly hostage and he shoots Darrell in his shoulder when he tries to rescue her. The thug then prepares to deal out more violence when a large disco ball is let loose from the ceiling. It then falls and smashes onto his head, knocking him out or killing him. Reviewed November 23, 2005 / Posted November 23, 2005

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