"HEARTS IN ATLANTIS"
(2001) (Anton Yelchin, Anthony Hopkins) (PG-13)

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

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QUICK TAKE:

Drama: A young boy experiences the last summer of his childhood as a mysterious but insightful boarder opens his eyes about life and the real world.

PLOT:

Bobby Garfield (DAVID MORSE) is a middle-aged photographer who's just received news that a childhood friend has died. Retuning home for the funeral, Bobby is flooded with memories of the summer of 1960 when he turned 11. It was then that he hung out with his best friends, Carol Gerber (MIKA BOOREM) and Sully (WILL ROTHHAAR), and lived with his single, widowed mother, Liz (Hope Davis).

With his father dead for five years and his mother painting a less than flattering picture of the man, young Bobby (ANTON YELCHIN) needs a male authority figure and gets one in the form of Ted Brautigan (ANTHONY HOPKINS), an older man who rents the upstairs apartment of the boarding house where Bobby and Liz live.

Drawn to the boy's need for a bigger view of the world, Ted hopes to enlighten Bobby after hiring him to read the newspaper -- to compensate for his failing eyesight - and keep watch out for the mysterious and well-dressed "low men" he knows will come looking for him.

As the summer progresses and Bobby and his friends must contend with Harry Doolin (TIMOTHY REIFSNYDER) and his small band of local bullies, he begins to learn more about life, his father and himself, all while picking up the ability to read minds, much like Ted, who now realizes his pursuers are progressively closing in on him.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

If they're fans of someone in the cast or films based on Stephen King stories, they just might.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13

For violence and thematic elements.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

ANTON YELCHIN plays an 11-year-old boy who sees Ted as a father figure and has his life enlightened and expanded by him. He's pretty much a normal kid who experiences his first kiss with Carol and some brief extrasensory powers from Ted.

ANTHONY HOPKINS plays an older man who suddenly arrives in Bobby's life and helps enlighten him. He smokes and is constantly on the lookout for mysterious men who want him for his telekinetic powers.

MIKA BOOREM plays Bobby's best friend and a normal girl at that age for whom he begins to have romantic feelings.

WILL ROTHHAAR plays a close friend of theirs.

HOPE DAVIS plays Bobby's self-absorbed and selfish mother who's lied to him about his deceased father and isn't overly supportive of the boy.

DAVID MORSE plays Bobby as a retrospective adult.

TIMOTHY REIFSNYDER plays a local bully who picks on Bobby and Carol.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

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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).

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OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this PG-13 rated drama. Violence consists of a partially seen rape (or attempted rape as it's not seen through to conclusion), an older boy attacking a young girl, and another boy then beating that first one with a baseball bat. Those scenes and others - including some mysterious men non-violently pursuing an older man for his telekinetic powers - may be disturbing and/or suspenseful to some viewers.

Profanity consists of a few "s" words and a handful of other expletives, while a few colorful phrases are also present. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, including a bully who picks on other kids, a mother who lies to her 11-year-old about his long-deceased father and is more obsessed with herself than him (which leads to some tense family moments), and a boss who rapes or attempts to rape his employee.

Beyond that, some drinking and smoking occurs. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed content listings for more specific examples of what's present and occurs in the film.

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ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

We briefly see Liz holding a glass of what looks like wine.

After Liz's rape incident with her boss, Ted tells her that she didn't foresee her trip with her boss involving liquor and sex.

Liz has a glass of wine.

BLOOD/GORE

Bobby has some scrapes on his face after rescuing Carol.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

We learn that Liz has lied to Bobby about his father/her husband, and she spends most of their money on her work clothes rather than anything for him. She also flippantly refers to Carol as Bobby's girlfriend.

Liz's boss has both for making her work late on her son's birthday, inappropriately touching her while leaving for a business trip and then apparently raping her (or at least trying to do so as he roughs her up) on that trip. He also earlier jokes with Bobby about women, stating that one can't live with or without them, or shoot them outside of Montana.

A game man at a local fair describes a game as "Easy, peasy, Japanesy."

Some local boys ride by and harass Bobby and Carol, calling the former a "fairy" and asking the latter how her "t*ts" are coming along.

Those boys harass them again, calling Carol "Gerber baby" and Bobby a "fairy" and "queer." One of them states that he wants to feel Carol's chest to check on her "t*ts" and then does so. When Ted comes along, this one boy has a bad attitude toward him until Ted reads his mind and learns his family's dark secret (either this boy or his father dressing up in the mother's clothes).

Some may see Ted as having a bad attitude for taking Bobby into a betting parlor, but as Ted says he can't leave the boy on the street (he's babysitting him) and he needs the money to travel.

Liz turns in Ted to those looking for him (she calls them).

FRIGHTENING SCENES

Bobby finds Ted seated, staring off into the distance and breathing heavily. This briefly unnerves Bobby until Ted comes out of this spell/trance.

Bobby's various sights of the "low men" (those after Ted) are accompanied by some mildly suspenseful music and thus might be a bit suspenseful to some viewers (including one where Ted tells Bobby to duck down out of sight and think of something pleasant).

We see glimpses of Liz's boss coming on to her and then apparently attacking her. A few scenes later, we see her boss throwing her onto a hotel bed (and starting to tear her dress off) and that's then inter-cut with a local boy attacking Carol and hitting her with something (dislocating her shoulder and causing her great pain).

GUNS/WEAPONS

Baseball bat: Used to attack others. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "Suckers," "Fairy" and "Queer" (homosexual) and "Bastard."

To explain to Bobby what the term flatulence means, Ted blows on his own arm, making a related raspberry sound.

JUMP SCENES

None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

A moderate amount of ominous and suspenseful music plays in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

None.

PROFANITY

At least 2 "s" words, 2 slang terms for breasts ("t*ts"), 2 S.O.B.s, 3 uses of "Oh my God" and 1 use each of "Oh God" and "Oh Jesus" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY

Some local boys ride by and harass Bobby and Carol, asking her how her "t*ts" are coming along. Later, the same one states that he wants to feel Carol's chest to check on her "t*ts" and then does so.

Bobby briefly stares at a couple making out in a parked car.

After Liz's rape incident with her boss, Ted tells her that she didn't foresee her trip with her boss involving liquor and sex.

SMOKING

Ted smokes more than 5 times, while Liz smokes a few times and some miscellaneous characters also smoke (one with a cigar).

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

We hear that Bobby's father died six years ago and Liz doesn't speak highly of him (although we later learn she was lying about him and his habits).

Bobby has it out with his mother about the way she lied about his father.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

What power Ted had and the identity and intent of the men after him.

There's a suggestion of transvestitism (Ted reads a boy's mind and sees him or his father dressing up in the mother's clothes - not seen, just commented on).

Liz's attitude and behavior, and lying to Bobby about his deceased father.

Rape.

Liz's belief that Ted is molesting Carol when she finds them together with Carol's shirt undone (Ted was resetting her dislocated shoulder in Bobby's presence).

VIOLENCE

Some local boys grab Bobby and Carol after harassing them. They threaten to beat up Bobby, but Ted comes along and they stop.

We see glimpses of Liz's boss coming on to her and then apparently attacking her. A few scenes later, we see her boss throwing her onto a hotel bed (and starting to tear her dress off) and that's then inter-cut with a local boy attacking Carol and hitting her with something (dislocating her shoulder and causing her great pain).

Liz slaps Ted thinking he's molested Carol (he hasn't).

A local boy tries to attack Bobby with a baseball bat, but Bobby hit him in the gut, takes the bat and then repeatedly hits that boy with it until he runs away.

Reviewed August 22, 2001 / Posted September 28, 2001

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