Family Filmgoer

Watching With Kids in Mind

Fired Up (PG-13, 94 minutes)

Two girl-crazy high school football players sign up for cheerleader camp instead of football camp in hopes of scoring more than touchdowns in this crass comedy -- yet another in which the actors look (and indeed are) a good 10 years too old to be in high school. Shawn, the lesser lothario of the two, finds himself more than attracted to cheerleader captain Carly, but her bullying, unfaithful college boyfriend is an obstacle.

The one truly funny moment in "Fired Up" occurs well after the point at which we know the film won't add up to much: The entire cheerleading camp, probably a few hundred teens and counselors, watches "Bring It On" (PG-13, 2000), the hit cheerleading movie with Kirsten Dunst. The campers recite all the lines right along with the actors. It's a sweet interval that opens a little window onto the attraction cheerleading holds for so many kids. Too bad the rest of the film is just a standard-issue teen sex comedy.

Without all the sexual innuendo, breast jokes and gay (sometimes homophobic) humor in "Fired Up," the movie would be about 10 minutes long. There are implied sexual situations, implied and actual nudity, profanity and hints of beer drinking. All this adds up to an iffy choice for middle-schoolers.

Fanboys (PG-13, 90 minutes)

This long-awaited film is part lewd road-trip farce and part valentine to "Star Wars" geeks. The movie could have used more geekiness and less crassness to set itself apart, but it has some mighty droll moments. It is too lewd, however, to recommend for kids younger than 16.

"Fanboys" follows the adventures of four Midwestern guys recently out of high school: Eric has a job, though it's at his dad's car dealership. Hutch, a sex-and-"Star Wars"-crazed slacker, works out of his garage. Windows, a nerd, longs for romance. And Linus, we learn, is terminally ill. The four pile into a van and head west, intending to steal a print of the yet-to-be-released "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" (PG, 1999) from George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in California. The friends want Linus to see Lucas's latest. Along the way, they escape an angry pimp (Seth Rogen) in Las Vegas and encounter celebs in amusing cameos (William Shatner, Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams among them).

Crass and bawdy, "Fanboys" could be a mild R for its crude sexual innuendo, nonexplicit sexual situations, homophobic humor, profanity and hallucinogenic drug use. There's a thankfully understated subplot about one guy's online romance with a "woman" who turns out to be 10 years old.

Also Playing

8 and Older

"Coraline" (PG). Director Henry Selick's brilliant stop-motion animated film is exciting fare for kids 8 and older who love scary fairy tales. However, easily spooked children as old as 12 may find "Coraline's" second half upsetting. After all, it's about a little girl who enters a menacing through-the-looking-glass world and nearly loses her parents. Coraline (voice of Dakota Fanning) lives in a ramshackle apartment with her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman), both writers who have no time for her. One night, she goes through a little door and into a place that looks like home, only brighter, with her parents acting all cheery. But Other Mother and Other Father have buttons for eyes and want to replace Coraline's eyes, too. She must escape. The film includes a few crass words and shows lady acrobats in scanty costumes. It does end happily.

"The Pink Panther 2" (PG). This movie is pure silliness, and it's a vast improvement over Steve Martin's first attempt ("The Pink Panther," PG, 2006) to update the 1960s Inspector Clouseau comedies. This time, the bumbling Paris cop joins a team investigating major thefts, including the Pink Panther diamond. In a lovely sequence, Clouseau skulks clumsily outside a mansion, his pratfalls captured soundlessly on security cameras in a nod to silent film comedies. There is much semi-bawdy sexual innuendo, some of it verbal, and some of it focusing on cleavages and derrieres. There are ethnic insults.

"Paul Blart: Mall Cop" (PG). Comic Kevin James brings a lovely mix of heart and innocence to the title role in this amusing family comedy about a buffoonish shopping-mall security guard who scoots around on a Segway. When a gang of robbers takes hostages in the mall, Paul tries to foil them solo. Kids younger than 10 may be upset when the bad guys threaten to kill hostages. There is gunfire and an explosion. Paul's daughter is put in danger. He gets drunk, and we see a tattoo on his bottom. There is mild sexual innuendo and swearing.

10 and Older

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" (PG). The credit-card-maxing habits of Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher), the dizzy, addicted shopper of the title, are fun to watch. Then the pallid romantic plot kicks in, and the comedy congeals. Luke (Hugh Dancy), the ever-so-cute editor of a finance magazine, hires Rebecca to write about saving money. He knows nothing of her $16,000 credit-card debt or that Rebecca's friend has enrolled her in a 12-step program for shopaholics. Likely to entertain kids (mostly girls) 10 and older, the film (based on novels by Sophie Kinsella) shows that shopping addiction is real and spending more than you have is bad, yet it also revels in the designer stuff Rebecca buys. There is mild sexual innuendo, and characters get drunk.

PG-13

"Push." High-schoolers into science-fiction thrillers may find "Push" very cool. Even with American stars, it feels like a Hong Kong action flick, with bright, jumpy visuals, eccentric characters and dialogue that rings smartly film-noir. The story, alas, gets tied up in knots. Operatives with superhuman mental/kinetic powers clash in Hong Kong. Nick (Chris Evans), who can make things float, hides from the evil Division that trained him, but "sniffers" can track him. Cassie (Dakota Fanning), a 13-year-old who sees the future, enlists Nick to rescue her mother but warns that they must alter the future first, or die. There is gunplay, impalement, suicides, midrange profanity, sexual innuendo, smoking and hints of drug use. Young Cassie gets drunk. Not so much for middle-schoolers.

"He's Just Not That Into You." Crisp, funny and poignant, this romantic comedy adds characters and plot to the popular nonfiction book's advice. It subtly chides young singles for casual affairs and stifled emotions. Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) practically stalks guys who promise to call and then don't. Conor (Kevin Connolly) pines for Anna (Scarlett Johansson), who takes up with Ben (Bradley Cooper), who's married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly), whose friend Beth (Jennifer Aniston) lives with Neil (Ben Affleck), who won't marry her, while Mary (Drew Barrymore) can't get a date. Gigi then gets eye-opening advice from Alex (Justin Long). There are semi-explicit sexual trysts, one with implied nudity. There is crude sexual slang, midrange profanity, drinking and implied smoking. A better bet for high-schoolers 16 and older.

R

"Friday the 13th." A new generation of good-looking, hard-partying 20-somethings suffer grisly deaths at the hands of the slasher-in-a-hockey-mask, Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears), in this update of the 1980 original. Graphic and bloody, with impalements, throat-slashings and a beheading, as well as strong profanity, explicit sexual situations, near-nudity, marijuana use and drinking, this "Friday the 13th" will satisfy fans of the slasher genre, but it is not for those younger than 17.