Identity Thief (film) and children

[Liberty Belle]

My husband and I saw it this evening at the Dollar Movies and there were at least 12 children in there under 10!

If you haven't seen it, I'd say it's on par with The Hangover. I was just pretty shocked. Some parts were extremely adult.

If you've seen it, were there kids in the theater with you? Do you think it was ok for kids to see?

Three of the kids were in front of us (two different families), but when we got up to leave, I saw about ten more behind us. I was shocked.

 

[penn19]

My husband and I saw it this evening at the Dollar Movies and there were at least 12 children in there under 10!

If you haven't seen it, I'd say it's on par with The Hangover. I was just pretty shocked. Some parts were extremely adult.

If you've seen it, were there kids in the theater with you? Do you think it was ok for kids to see?

Three of the kids were in front of us (two different families), but when we got up to leave, I saw about ten more behind us. I was shocked.

Bad mom here. I brought my 11 and 15 year old with me to see it. Went by the previews, looked funny etc....it was a little raunchy in parts. Made them cover their eyes.. Probably wasn't the best movie for them to see but.......

 

[Liberty Belle]

Bad mom here. I brought my 11 and 15 year old with me to see it. Went by the previews, looked funny etc....it was a little raunchy in parts. Made them cover their eyes.. Probably wasn't the best movie for them to see but.......

I could see a fifteen year old seeing it, but probably would prefer it was not with their parent. lol.

Most of the kids I saw looked around 6-9, but one girl looked around 10, though I guess she could have been older.

Were your kids ok with it?

That one motel room scene embarrassed me. lol mostly because I was sitting next to a young guy.

 

[penn19]

I could see a fifteen year old seeing it, but probably would prefer it was not with their parent. lol.

Most of the kids I saw looked around 6-9, but one girl looked around 10, though I guess she could have been older.

Were your kids ok with it?

That one motel room scene embarrassed me. lol mostly because I was sitting next to a young guy.

Yes that was bad. I thought the bathtub scene was much worse. Didn't see that coming. At that point I was like stay? Or leave? Stay? Or leave? So we just stayed. They sort of rolled their eyes.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Yes that was bad. I thought the bathtub scene was much worse. Didn't see that coming. At that point I was like stay? Or leave? Stay? Or leave? So we just stayed. They sort of rolled their eyes.

That's what my husband and I figured happened. Parents didn't know how bad it was and then probably thought, well the worst is over, might as well stay.

I was thinking just *maybe* the bathroom scene went over the kids' heads. But that motel scene...lol that was pretty bad. I just hope they didn't hear what the guy said before he used the safe word.

 

[ronandannette]

The most rediculous part is how the storey SO TOTALLY DID NOT NEED the nasty bits. In fact, after the sappy ending, my DS (16) commented that without them, it could have been a Disney movie . Here in Alberta the movie had a 14A rating, which means that young teens could see it alone. I have to confess that I was surprised; it was way filthier than lots of the R movies I have seen.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

I thought it was a bit raunchy, but NOWHERE NEAR The Hangover, or Horrible Bosses for that matter. (Horrible Bosses was HYSTERICAL!!!))

 

[mom2cookies]

If you are not aware of it, this site is pretty accurate on movies and games etc to give a parents point of view.I like that it gives details of scenes and why they have the opinion they do.
http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

 

[Lemonademouth]

DH and I have decided at all R rated movies will wait until they are 15/16 when ever we have children, but I think it would also depend. I'm the 'I'll watch it first' kinda gal, but that one would have gotten a pass for my kids to see. This is a little hippo critical since my own mother took me to see American Pie when I was 11 or 12.

 

[cari12]

If I am wondering about whether a movie is appropriate for the kids I go to commonsensemedia.com they give reviews by parents, kids and their own review as well.
DD10 asked me if she could see the Hunger Games and I said it was not appropriate for her age group. She said a girl in her class had seen it! That movie is so not for 10 year olds.

 

[zoemurr]

If I am wondering about whether a movie is appropriate for the kids I go to commonsensemedia.com they give reviews by parents, kids and their own review as well.
DD10 asked me if she could see the Hunger Games and I said it was not appropriate for her age group. She said a girl in her class had seen it! That movie is so not for 10 year olds.

Read and saw the Hunger Games movie without a problem. All of his friends did too. Since he has an older sister he's seen lots of PG13 movies. (Mostly Harry Potter and some superhero movies.) You know your kids best but we were fine with it.

I really want to see Identity Theif (even though the reviews weren't that great.) I love Jason Bateman. Can't wait for the new Arrested Development next month!

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Read and saw the Hunger Games movie without a problem. All of his friends did too. Since he has an older sister he's seen lots of PG13 movies. (Mostly Harry Potter and some superhero movies.) You know your kids best but we were fine with it.

I really want to see Identity Theif (even though the reviews weren't that great.) I love Jason Bateman. Can't wait for the new Arrested Development next month!

I really didn't get the bad review. I loved it! Jason Bateman is movie gold.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Read and saw the Hunger Games movie without a problem. All of his friends did too. Since he has an older sister he's seen lots of PG13 movies. (Mostly Harry Potter and some superhero movies.) You know your kids best but we were fine with it.

Identity Theft is R.

 

[MrsPete]

I haven't seen that movie, but if it's anything like The Hangover, I agree that children shouldn't have been in the theater.

However, that's one of the things I've noticed about kids in the 21 years I've been teaching: Parents have largely decided that "anything" is fine to watch on TV or in the movies. Between HBO, redbox rentals and other easy-to-access entertainment, our kids are seeing a whole lot of things that were considered "adult" a generation ago. It's not to the kids' advantage.

It's not just movies though. Consider: When I was a kid in the 70s-80s, we watched sit-coms: Happy Days, Full House, etc. In 30 minutes, the problem was resolved, and the family had learned a moral lesson. Today kids watch reality TV or sit-coms that're void of the happy-ending/moral (I love Big Bang Theory, but it doesn't have the now-we're-a-little-smarter-or-a-little-closer that The Cosby Show had). What our kids watch today is people being smart-alecky with one another, and it shows in their behavior!

 

[MrsPete]

DH and I have decided at all R rated movies will wait until they are 15/16 when ever we have children, but I think it would also depend. I'm the 'I'll watch it first' kinda gal, but that one would have gotten a pass for my kids to see. This is a little hippo critical since my own mother took me to see American Pie when I was 11 or 12.

We made a similar decision: We decided we'd abide by the ratings UNLESS we'd seen the movie ourselves ahead of time and had decided that it was acceptable. Some 10-20 years old movies are rated R but have more of a PG13 feel to them, and we've allowed some of them. We also decided they'd not have TVs in their bedrooms, which has turned out to be a very good parenting decision. Over the years they did watch a few things of which I didn't approve, but it wasn't nearly so much as it would've been if I'd said, "Anything goes."

This is not a bit hypocritical. LOTS of things my mom did, I've chosen to do differently. Times are different, I have different resources available to me -- why should I feel it's necessary to make the same choices my mom did? On the subject of TV/movie content, my mom didn't have much about which to worry: We only had three TV channels, so the only thing I could watch before she came home was Batman. We had no VCR, no internet. She didn't have to be vigilant in that particular way. Incidentally, she's commented to me that I'm a better mom than she was. She's right, but I wouldn't actually say that to her.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

DH and I have decided at all R rated movies will wait until they are 15/16 when ever we have children, but I think it would also depend.

The King's Speech, while boring, is only R because of the use of a certain four letter word many many times in one monologue. I would take a 11 or 12 year old to that. So, like you said, it depends.

Even some of the grossout humor and sex in R-rated movies isn't that bad (from the standpoint of "think of the children!"), and I think in my case it's more of being embarrassed to be watching that with my children rather than thinking they shouldn't watch it.

Violence, especially gore, is a straight no-go for me.

 

[krcit]

I thought it was a bit raunchy, but NOWHERE NEAR The Hangover, or Horrible Bosses for that matter. (Horrible Bosses was HYSTERICAL!!!))

I agree on both points!

 

[angwill]

With our son we always just went by the age rating the movie had. If I wanted to watch an R rated movie I simply went while he was not around or rented it and watched it after he went to bed. That was our choice and he always seemed way more innocent than other kids his age. I am sure there were also times the kids talked about movies or shows that he simply could not be part of the conversation.

That said If other parents want to bring their kids that are younger that is their choice but I sure hope if the kids talk or ask about it that they explain things to them. My SIL never had any restrictions on her kids from a very young age and I found myself talking to them a lot about things they saw that they didn't understand. They would repeat stuff they heard and saw that was innapropriate without realizing what it mean to each other and adults. Their parents were fine with that too and just let it go. The good thing with that is when I would talk to them about it they were fine with me doing that and let that go too. lol