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Family Film Guide: 'The Break-Up', 'On a Clear Day'
Friday, June 02, 2006

The Post-Gazette reviews movies from a family perspective:

"The Break-Up"

Rated: PG-13.

Best for: Mature high school students and older.

What you should know: Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn play a Chicago couple in the throes of a break-up. Parents should know this is a pretty hard PG-13, with much more adult material than, say, "Friends."

Language: A steady stream of expletives or curses, some with "God" attached.

Sexual situations and nudity: After undergoing waxing of private body parts, Aniston's character wanders around her condo nude, although the camera fuzzes out the image and captures her from the back. A topless woman, also shown from behind, dances after a drunken game of strip poker, and a nude male model poses for an artist. He, too, is pictured from the rear. There is also some crude talk about picking up women, hooking up with a man and speculation about a man's sexual orientation.

Violence/scary situations: One brief physical confrontation between men is played for laughs.

Drug and alcohol use: Much drinking of wine and beer, either with dinner or in clubs.


"On a Clear Day"

Rated: PG-13.

Best for: Mature tweens and up.

What you should know: Peter Mullan is a 55-year-old Glasgow shipbuilder who is laid off from his job and begins to train to swim the English Channel. He hides this from his wife (Brenda Blethyn) and his adult son, with whom he has a strained relationship.

Language: A sprinkling of mild three- or four-letter words.

Sexual situations and nudity: A man is quickly shown changing into a bathing suit.

Violence/scary situations: Flashbacks deal with an accidental drowning and an adult pal of Mullan's thrashes about in the water when he accompanies him on a swim. A reference is made to a desperate man who cuts off his own hand in an industrial press.

Drug and alcohol use:

Wine is consumed with dinner and pints ordered in the pubs.

First published on June 2, 2006 at 12:00 am