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Fun 'Sliding Doors'
By Jane Horwitz
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, April 24, 1998
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Also Playing
Okay for Tots on Up
"Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie" (G). Barney and pals chase magic egg in well-made whimsical tale. Kids 2-6 can sing along sometimes, only worry when egg nearly falls.
Better for 8 and Up
"Paulie" (PG). Smart, chatty parrot has cross-country adventures looking for little girl it belonged to in disjointed, bittersweet fable. Themes of separation and loss; rare, mild crude language; youngest may cringe at clipping of Paulie's feathers.
Okay for 10 and Up
"My Giant" (PG). Talent agent Billy Crystal convinces 7'7" Romanian- basketballer Gheorghe Muresan-to try movies in sentimental, but amusing buddy comedy. Scary-comic car wreck; rare profanity, mild sexual innuendo; gross vomiting scene.
"Lost in Space" (PG-13). Special- effects-laden update of '60s TV show starts out fun, grows corny. Not too intense for many preteens. Occasional profanity; mild sexual innuendo; fights; creepy creatures.
PG-13
"City of Angels" Nicolas Cage as restless celestial falls for human Meg Ryan in gorgeous but sentimentalized Hollywood take on 1988 German gem, "Wings of Desire." Child dies in upsetting early scene; mild sexual situation; subtle sexual innuendo; brief nudity.
Art Films and R's
"The Spanish Prisoner" (PG). Young exec conned by spies in subtle, sophisticated crime fable. Rare profanity; stabbing victim shown; guns brandished. Older teens.
"The Suicide Kings." Rich kids kidnap mob kingpin in contrived but intriguing comedy with violent, amoral edge. Severed finger, blood; drug use, liquor; beatings, shootings; profanity; mild sexual situation; semi-nude dancers. Older teens.
"The Butcher Boy." Brilliant, weird tragicomic tale of Irish boy so devastated by mother's death, father's drunkenness that he turns to fantasy world, violence. Loss, mental illness themes; non-graphic sexual situation involving priest; sudden violence; scatological humor; drinking, smoking. Older high-schoolers.
"The Object of My Affection." Jennifer Aniston as single gal smitten with gay guy in likable, literate comedy. Profanity; sexual innuendo; mild sexual situation; out-of-wedlock baby. High-schoolers.
"Nightwatch." Law student working as morgue security guard becomes murder suspect in silly but amusing mystery- thriller, full of red herrings, dread. Bloody murder scenes; explicit sexual situation; non-sexual nudity; rare profanity; negative ethnic stereotypes; portrayal of teenage prostitute. Characters smoke, drink. Older high-schoolers.
– Jane Horwitz
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"Sliding Doors" (PG-13)
A woman's life unfolds simultaneously along two different plot lines in this delightful romantic comedy, which ought to appeal to teenage girls in a big way. The rating has to do with a couple of steamy though not graphic bedroom scenes, rare profanity, and a discussion of out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays the heroine, a London advertising exec who gets fired, misses her subway train and gets mugged all in one day. But that's only one trajectory. In the other, the sliding doors of the train stay open long enough for her to get on and meet a witty Scotsman (John Hannah). She then goes home and finds her boyfriend (John Lynch) in bed with another woman. Edged with sadness and a sense of the unknowable, "Sliding Doors" is thoughtful and fun.
"Major League: Back to the Minors" (PG-13)
Teen baseball fans may actually get some enjoyment out of this third installment in the undistinguished series of "Major League" movies. ". . . Back to the Minors" actually turns out to be the best one-an enjoyable, laid-back tale that can stand on its own and has more to do with the love of baseball than the first two combined. The rating reflects occasional crude language and profanity. There is a brief fistfight, characters drink beer, and an unmarried couple spend a subtly implied night together.
Scott Bakula plays good-natured Gus, a washed-up minor league pitcher who takes over as manager of the Minnesota Twins' Triple-A farm team. Gus must handle a bitter rivalry with the Twins' big-time manager, which forces his minor leaguers into a high-profile exhibition game with the Twins. Teamwork is the message and cultural diversity is smiled upon.
"Two Girls and a Guy" (R)
Literate and thoughtful but a tad like a photographed play, this intimate three-character roundelay about sex and love and deception isn't appropriate for most kids under 17 or 18. It contains a very graphic sex scene, and even more graphic discussions of sex, as well as steaming profanity. "Two Girls and a Guy" records what happens when two women (Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner) discover that they're both involved with the same man (Robert Downey Jr., in a brave, raw portrayal), who's been deceiving them for months. Cleverly made by writer-director James Toback and interestingly acted, the movie brings what some will find a too-hip-to-live viewpoint to issues of love, desire and monogamy.
"The Big Hit" (R)
An action comedy about a nice hit man, "The Big Hit" combines exaggerated violence (in the style of Hong Kong cinema) with door-slamming farce. It's a spoof that, despite its flaws, comes off with surprising success and could amuse high-school-age action fans, while its lack of a moral center may disturb parents. The rating covers gun and knife mayhem; glimpses of a dismembered body; non-sexual nudity, crude comic sexual innuendo and non-explicit sexual situations, one of which becomes a near-rape. Profanity and liquor consumption also figure in. At its weakest, "The Big Hit" lapses into mean-spirited ethnic stereotyping and misogyny. Mark Wahlberg plays Melvin, the gullible hit man who's lured by his colleagues into a disastrous kidnapping scheme.
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