"HERE ON EARTH"
(2000) (Chris Klein, Leelee Sobieski) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Minor	Heavy	*Minor	None
Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	None	None	None	Moderate
Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Moderate	Minor	Heavy	Moderate	Mild

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QUICK TAKE:

Drama: After being sentenced to help rebuild a small town diner he inadvertently helped destroy, a prep school student finds himself falling for his adversary's girlfriend.

PLOT:

Kelley Morse (CHRIS KLEIN) is an arrogant and impudent student at an upscale private academy who's set to graduate as the valedictorian, attend an Ivy league college and follow in the footsteps of his successful father, John Morse (STUART WILSON), who's just given his son a new Mercedes as his graduation gift.

Kelley's future seems bright until he and his buddies take the car out for a spin and end up in the nearby small town's local diner. There, while flirting with Samantha Cavanaugh (LEELEE SOBIESKI), the owner's daughter, Kelley evokes the wrath of her longtime, hometown boyfriend, Jasper Arnold (JOSH HARTNETT). After a brief altercation, Kelley and his friends leave, but not before insulting Jasper and his small town ways.

Not one to let things slide, Jasper sets out after Kelley in a car chase that ends up with them crashing into the diner's gas station, inadvertently burning down the diner, and getting into hot water with the law. Instead of having them serve time, however, the local judge sentences the two to help in rebuilding the diner. While that's no problem for Jasper, Kelley has no place to stay and even less desire to spend his summer in what he considers a backwoods community.

He does eventually agree to the sentence and an offer by Jasper's mother, Betsy Arnold (ANNIE CORLEY) for him to stay in their guest bedroom, but neither he nor Jasper or his dad, Malcolm Arnold (MICHAEL ROOKER), the construction foreman, are happy about the arrangement. As such, Kelley does his work, but refuses to have anything to do with the Arnolds.

His attitude about the small town begins to change, however, when he encounters Samantha once again, and the sparks immediately fly between them, much to the dismay of her parents, Jo (ANNETTE O'TOOLE) and Earl (BRUCE GREENWOOD), the town's sheriff. As the budding romance also understandably sparks anger and jealousy in Jasper, he, Kelley and Samantha enter into a romantic triangle that will soon change their lives forever.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

Teenage girls seem to be the film's target audience and they, along with anyone who might be a fan of someone in the cast may just want to see this film.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13

For some sensuality and thematic elements.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

CHRIS KLEIN plays a cocky and arrogant prep school student who looks down on the residents of the neighboring small town. When he's sentenced to live there for the summer and help rebuild a diner he indirectly helped destroy, his attitude gets worse. It gets better, however, when he starts seeing Samantha (despite her having a boyfriend) and he eventually sleeps with her. While he doesn't become a perfect young man, he does grow up a bit as the summer progresses.

LEELEE SOBIESKI plays a small town high school student who, despite already having a longtime boyfriend, finds herself falling for (and sleeping with) Kelley. As such, she finds herself torn between the two young men while having to deal with a more important issue she wishes to keep secret.

JOSH HARTNETT plays her hometown boyfriend, an unassuming fellow who can't believe she's smitten with Kelley. As such, he gets jealous, acts impulsively and occasionally gets into spats/fights with Kelley.

STUART WILSON plays Kelley's arrogant and driven father who wants Kelley to succeed and doesn't approve of Samantha.

MICHAEL ROOKER plays Jasper's construction foreman father who doesn't particularly like Kelley and his arrogant attitude, but does try being friendly with him, while ANNIE CORLEY plays Jasper's mother who just wants everyone to get along.

ANNETTE O'TOOLE and BRUCE GREENWOOD plays Samantha's parents who want the best for their daughter and aren't sure that Kelley is it.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

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Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

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OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief look at the content found in this PG-13 rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 5 "s" words, along with only a handful of other profanities and colorful phrases. Some non-explicit sexually related comments are made, and it's heavily suggested that the two main characters have sex (we see them fooling around beforehand in a scene that includes an ever-so-brief glimpse at part of a young woman's bare breasts). Other scenes include some making out as well as a guy kissing various nonsexual parts of a young woman's body.

Various characters - and specifically the protagonist - have bad attitudes toward others, and some of them lead to brief moments of fisticuffs (as well as a diner burning down). A girl cheats on her boyfriend with the new guy in town. We see that a character has had several beers and appears to be drunk, while we later learn that a major character has cancer and eventually dies due to it. Other tense family moments include a character talking about his mother's past suicide.

Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, we suggest that you take a closer look at our more detailed content listings.

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ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

Kelley finds a beer in the fridge, and while lamenting over the fact that Samantha has gone to a dance with Jasper, drinks several more (we see three bottles in front of him). Later, he shows up at the dance a bit drunk.

BLOOD/GORE

Jasper has a tiny bit of blood in the corner of his mouth after fighting Kelley.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

Kelley has a cocky and arrogant attitude, and is condescending to, and later wants nothing to do with, the residents of the small town where he finds himself sentenced for the summer.

Samantha cheats on Jasper with Kelley, while some may see Kelley as having both for moving in on her (although he does tell her in one scene that he doesn't want to break up an existing relationship - although by then he's already laid the groundwork for doing just that).

Kelley breaks the rules by taking his new car out for a spin (after it's been locked up until after he graduates).

Kelley's dad has something of an arrogant attitude and tells Kelley that whatever Kelley does in his life directly reflects on him (as in possibly ruining his reputation if Kelley isn't as successful as him) and he refers to Sam as nothing but a "distraction."

When his sentence is over, Kelley leaves town despite Samantha needing him.

FRIGHTENING SCENES

It's possible that some viewers might find scenes listed under "Violence" (as well as the brief nighttime racing scene between Kelley and Jasper) as tense, but those scenes aren't intentionally played to come off that way.

GUNS/WEAPONS

None.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "Holy sh*t" and "Jerk."

We see someone carving their name onto a wall at the Cavanaugh diner, but later learn that this is a welcomed and accepted tradition.

Jasper chases after Kelley in his car and the two end up racing each other across various roads.

One of Jasper's friends gives Kelley "the finger" while Jasper's little sister later does the same.

JUMP SCENES

None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

None.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

None.

PROFANITY

At least 5 "s" words, 1 slang term for male genitals ("wood"), 2 asses, 2 hells, and 1 use each of "For Christ's sakes," "God" and "Oh my Lord" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY

Seeing Kelley's new Mercedes, one of his friends comments that he could have sex with a car like that. Kelley then jokes that he should be careful not to burn his "wood" on the tailpipe, and the friend corrects his statement by saying he could have sex with a girl if a had a car like that. A joke is then made that his friend couldn't have sex with a girl even if he gave her a car like that.

A young woman wears a small dress that shows off her shapely body as well as her cleavage.

Upon first meeting Kelley and noting him flirting with her, Samantha tells him that if she catches him "looking at my ass" when she walks away, his milkshake will end up in his lap. Later, Kelley taunts Jasper by noting that Samantha has added him to her "fantasy file."

One of Samantha's friends comments about her boyfriend (Jasper's buddy), "My man looks good naked" (but no nudity is seen).

After Samantha jokingly states that Kelley could get arrested for killing a mouse, he asks if handcuffs would be involved. She then asks if he'd want that and he replies that it would depend on who was putting them on him. She then replies that it would be the sheriff and therefore he shouldn't "get too excited" over the prospects.

Kelley and Samantha do some brief, passionate kissing.

Samantha shows some cleavage in various outfits (including a low-cut tank top) she wears.

Kelley compares various parts of Samantha's clothed body to various states and then kisses them (including her foot, shin, knees and belly button). He then moves up her body and puts his hand alongside the side of her clothed breast and calls her breasts "New Jersey" and "New York." They then make out while lying on the ground under a tree.

We see Kelley lay Samantha down on a bed in his house (his father isn't home) and then lay down on top of her. We see the tops of her bare breasts as well as what looked like a brief glimpse of her nipples. They make out for a bit and we then see them in bed the next morning (implying that they had sex or fooled around even more). We later see her dancing around the kitchen wearing just a man's dress shirt (but no nudity is seen).

SMOKING

One of Kelley's friends carries what looks like an unlit cigarette early in the film.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

We learn that Kelley's mother committed suicide sometime in the past.

Kelley and his dad have a brief argument, while there's a brief, tense family moment between Samantha and her father.

A family must deal with their child's illness and eventual death (including a brief funeral scene).

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

Kelley's condescending attitude toward others and him being the catalyst for wrecking Jasper and Samantha's relationship.

Whether Jasper and Kelley's collective sentence was appropriate for their misdoings (a car race that resulting in the diner's destruction).

Cancer.

Suicide - Kelley mentions finding his mother sometime in the past in their blood-filled bathtub after she had slit her wrists (not seen).

VIOLENCE

Jasper and Kelley get into a brief scuffle with each pushing the other (while one of Jasper's friends pushes one of Kelley's friends as he leaves the diner).

Losing control while racing Kelley, Jasper's car smashes through a gas station, ripping out the pumps and causing an explosion and subsequent fire that burns down the adjoining diner.

After trading some insults, Kelley races up and tackles Jasper, the two struggle and Jasper then punches Kelley. In turn, Kelley then drives Jasper backward through some construction framing.

We hear that Kelley killed a mouse that was in his room (and to which Jasper's sister was fond).

Jasper pushes Kelley backwards and then punches him. In turn, Kelley tries rushing him but misses and ending up crashing through a drum set.

Reviewed March 20, 2000 / Posted March 24, 2000

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