A serious question about Brokeback Mountain:

[hedgehog]

How family safe is it? I watch DVDs with my teenagers 17 & 15, and I'd like to watch this movie with them. Comments?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Only one scene is somewhat unfriendly.

Nothing is really seen, per se, but you definitely know there's some sex going on.

[hedgehog]

3. Well, I'll ask them if they want to see it then

We saw A Very Long Engagement which they all thought was a little too explicit. The phrase they used was "a little too French". No actual private parts seen, just a lot of naked people going at it ( well, not a lot, but more than they wanted to see with their parents in the same room!)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Honestly, if it's that big a deal, just fast forward.

It doesn't add anything to the movie. It's quite extraneous, and you can totally see it coming, so you can just fast forward and you won't miss a damn thing. It's a really good movie, so it'd be a shame if you missed it because of that one scene.

[hedgehog]

7. When the older kids were still home, and the younger kids

were younger, we had fast hand censorship - one of the big kids would put a hand over the little kid's eyes until the sex scene was over. It was more of a family joke than a serious attempt at censorship. Given the gratuitous nature of some scenes, it was more of a comment on sloppy film making than anything else. (Generally the scene involved a "wardrobe malfunction" LOL)

[Crazy Dave]

8. I recommended a movie at a family get together one time and...

...out of a two hour movie there was about a half second scene with a woman about to lower her head down into a guy's lap. Well at the next get together it was all I heard, "how dare you recommend that movie for us to watch" from two christian right-wingers in the family. Funny how everybody else that watched the same movie didn't even remember that part but it was all they remembered out of the entire two hours. If you blinked you missed it.

[JackBeck]

10. Is the scene you are talking about

the one with the boobs, the one with the hetero sex, or the one with the gay sex?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

13. Good point - I totally forgot about those other scenes.

Maybe it's not so family friendly after all! :blush:

[BlueIris]

2. I would actually declare it totally family friendly.

But then again, my parents thought it was fine for me to watch "Apocalypse Now" when I was 13--operating on the theory that a good film is a good film, particularly if its characters, plot and subject matter are meaningful.

[hedgehog]

6. That tends to be my attitude.

Obviously, it depends on the age of the family. There is a certain amount of squeamishness for teens watching sex scenes with their parents in the same room. The teens know all about sex, but they don't like to think about the fact that their parents also know all about sex!

[Deep13]

4. I sure it is okay for 15 and 17.

Being a love story, though, they will probably be bored out of their skulls. I would be.

[LostinVA]

9. That's plenty old enough

VERY little sex in it -- and probably more hetero than gay.

[fishwax]

11. I would consider it fine for those ages, though

every kid is different, I suppose.

I thought the movie was actually very tame, particularly after hearing all the buildup about how far they went showing gay sex.

[hedgehog]

12. Thanks

I'll be watching for the DVD - you've given me the info I needed!