"MAX KEEBLE'S BIG MOVE"
(2001) (Alex D. Linz, Larry Miller) (PG)

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

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QUICK TAKE:

Comedy: Believing that he's moving to another city, a junior high student sets out to get his revenge on all of those who've wronged him in the past.

PLOT:

It's the first day of 7th grade at Curtis Junior High for Max Keeble (ALEX D. LINZ) and his best friends, Megan (ZENA GREY) and Robe (JOSH PECK). Having survived the summer of being pursued by the vindictive Evil Ice Cream Man (JAMIE KENNEDY), Max is hoping for a fresh start, particularly upon spotting the girl of his dreams, Jenna (BROOKE ANNE SMITH), who he knows from his paper route.

Yet, he discovers that middle school life isn't going to be much different than before. For starters, the school's two bullies -- Troy McGinty (NOEL FISHER), who's announced he's going to beat up one kid each day, and Dobbs (ORLANDO BROWN), who takes money from kids in the guise of investing it for them - have already picked on him.

To make matters worse, the fanatical school principal, Mr. Jindraike (LARRY MILLER) - who's after the job of Superintendent Knebworth (CLIFTON DAVIS) - reprimanded him for being thrown into a trash dumpster. Thus, when Max's parents, Lily (NORA DUNN) and Don (ROBERT CARRADINE), announce that they must move to Chicago by the end of the week for his dad's job, one would think that would be the last straw for Max.

Instead, the resourceful youngster decides that if he's moving and thus won't face the repercussions of his actions, he'll get even with those who've wronged him in the past. From that point on, and with the aide of Robe and Megan, Max begins his course of retribution, only to discover that not all plans are foolproof.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

Although there's no huge draw in the cast, the fact that it's about middle school kids will probably have those who are around that age wanting to see it.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG

For some bullying and crude humor.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

ALEX D. LINZ plays a spunky seventh grader who decides to act up and get his revenge on those who've wronged him in the past when he learns he must move to Chicago with his parents. After enacting his plan, he learns a few things about himself and life, as he grows up a bit.

ZENA GREY plays his friend who'd rather throw him a big going away party rather than participate in his retribution, but helps out anyway.

JOSH PECK plays their other close friend who also helps out and oddly wears a bathrobe all of the time.

LARRY MILLER plays their self-serving principal who doesn't seem to like kids and is only interested in kowtowing to the Superintendent so that he can get his job.

NOEL FISHER plays a school bully who singles out Max for the year's first "pounding."

ORLANDO BROWN plays a more sophisticated bully who takes money from kids in the guise of investing it for them.

JAMIE KENNEDY plays a vindictive ice cream truck driver who's always chasing Max.

BROOKE ANNE SMITH plays the attractive and slightly older object of Max's attraction.

NORA DUNN plays Max's house-obsessed mother who's as unhappy to move as he is.

ROBERT CARRADINE plays Max's father who tries to get him to understand why they must move.

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 summary of the content found in this PG-rated comedy. While played all for intended laughs, various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, including a school principal as well as several bullies who pick on other kids in different ways. Their behavior and the retributive actions and attitude of the protagonist and others may be enticing for some kids to imitate, as might other, non-related behavior and the use of various colorful phrases.

Various instances of crude humor are present, while a young teenage girl is presented as something of a young teen sex object (based on the way she's shot and the music that accompanies her) and a teacher talks about pheromones being nature's dating service (with some visual sexual innuendo occurring during that, although it will go after many kids' heads).

Violence - all played in a comedic fashion - consists of various characters threatening or roughing up the protagonist, some slapstick style material and some property destruction. Some of those moments - particularly the bully-related ones - could be unsettling for the youngest of kids.

Beyond that, the rest of the film's categories have little or nothing in the way of major objectionable content. Nevertheless, should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home, you may want to take a closer look at our detailed content listings for more specific information about what's present and/or occurs in the film.

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ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

None.

BLOOD/GORE

Some crude/gross humor includes: Robe picking up a soda can that rolls back to him on a bus and taking a drink from it; Max being covered in all sorts of goo and trash after being tossed into a trash dumpster; Robe nearly eating some old spaghetti noodles off of Max right after that; we see some vomit on Robe's chin after we hear him vomiting; we hear a farting sound as Robe is stuck in an opening with his clothed rear end sticking out; Jindraike presents Knebworth with his old high school jockstrap (and then says that they washed it, but when it's smelled, an order is given to wash it again); and Max belches rather loudly after downing another milkshake.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

Principal Jindraike has both - in a comical fashion - for seeing his students as irritants, channeling all of the school's funds into building a football stadium (to impress the outgoing superintendent so that he'll give Jindraike his job) and planning to destroy an animal shelter in the process.

Troy has both for making it his duty to beat up or otherwise humiliate one student every day, starting with Max.

Troy picks up Max and then throws him into a mud puddle. After dropping what looks like sawdust onto him, he then apparently tosses him into a trash dumpster (we don't see the actual throwing, but do see Max afterwards, covered in trash). Some other students - taking photos for the yearbook -- allow this to happen and just take pictures of it, and other kids make fun of Max the next day regarding what happened to him. Later, some kids make fun of what Troy has done to Robe (trapping him in a glass display case).

Dobbs takes Max's lunch money and a teacher allows this to happen since Dobbs has given her good financial advice in the past.

Jenna has a bit of both attitudes toward Megan.

The Ice Cream Man has both types of attitudes for continually chasing after Max in a menacing fashion.

Realizing he's moving to Chicago and thus won't face the repercussions of what he does, Max suddenly decides to turn the tables on those who've wronged or disrespected him in the past. This includes acting up in class (taking a bite from his teacher's apple, cutting her phone line, kicking a globe across the room and talking back to her, etc.). Later, he and his friends steal Dobbs' PDA, put pheromones into Jindraike's mouth spray (after breaking into the school at night) and disconnect the Ice Cream Man's cooling coil on his truck (so that his ice cream will melt).

Some viewers may take offense at various jokes stemming from Robe's somewhat obese size (that he has troubles climbing over a wall that others easily scale, being stuck in a ventilation opening, etc.) and the Ice Cream Man calls him "Plump Daddy."

Max secretly shoots some food across the lunchroom at another student, and then blames it on a third student. This causes a huge food fight to break out in the cafeteria.

Max forgets about a party that Megan and Robe were throwing for him (while he parties with other kids).

Jindraike purposefully knocks a student's books to the floor.

FRIGHTENING SCENES

It's possible some scenes listed under "Violence" could be tense or unsettling for some younger viewers, but that all depends on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material (all of which is played for goofy laughs and no real suspense).

GUNS/WEAPONS

Small decorative, desktop cannon: Turned around and aimed by Jindraike at Max while mad at him (but it doesn't seem capable of firing).

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "Oh nuts," "Snot-nosed," "Creep," "This bites," "Fuzz" (police), "Freak," "Hurl" (vomit), "Shut up," what sounded like "Fart-knocker," "C'mon you idiot," an incomplete "What the..?" "Plump daddy" (what the Ice Cream man calls Robe), "It blows," "This place is nuts," "What did you say, punk?" "Fat-atitude" (what the kids say Max has), "Grade A dead meat," "Screw over," "Jerk," "I screwed up" and "Losers."

Although it happens in a dream, Max rides his bike across traffic to elude the Ice Cream Man, then rides it down some outdoor stairs and finally uses a tow truck bed as a ramp to fly through the air.

Robe wears a bathrobe all of the time.

Troy picks up Max and then throws him into a mud puddle. After dropping what looks like sawdust onto him, he then apparently tosses him into a trash dumpster (we don't see the actual throwing, but do see Max afterwards, covered in trash).

Although we don't see the actual act, Troy takes Max into a bathroom stall for a "swirly" (dunking his head into a toilet). We later see Max with a wet head and shoulders.

Realizing he's moving to Chicago and thus won't face the repercussions of what he does, Max suddenly decides to turn the tables on those who've wronged or disrespected him in the past. This includes acting up in class (taking a bite from his teacher's apple, cutting her phone line, kicking a globe across the room and talking back to her, etc.). Later, he and his friends steal Dobbs' PDA, put pheromones into Jindraike's mouth spray (after breaking into the school at night) and disconnect the Ice Cream Man's cooling coil on his truck (so that his ice cream will melt).

Not realizing the TV camera is still on, Jindraike sticks a pencil up each nostril and acts like he's a walrus.

Max secretly shoots some food across the lunchroom at another student, and then blames it on a third student. This causes a huge food fight to break out in the cafeteria, including some students shooting mustard out of a tuba.

Max belches rather loudly after downing another milkshake.

Robe breathes in some helium from a balloon so that he can have that funny helium voice.

We see that Max has drawn a "thought bubble" above Jindraike's head on a TV backdrop that reads, "I'm wearing a thong."

JUMP SCENES

None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

A moderate amount of comedic/playfully suspenseful music plays in certain scenes.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

None.

PROFANITY

None.

SEX/NUDITY

Some playfully sexy music (saxophone) plays as Max sees Jenna in his dream bending down to kiss him (but they're interrupted by the Ice Cream Man).

Ms. Dingman, the comely life sciences teacher, pulls out a bottle of pheromones and announces that they're "nature's dating service." As a little bit of sexy music plays and she continues talking about them (being used to attract the opposite sex), she walks by counters where various flames suddenly shoot up from school equipment as she passes by. She then asks if someone wants to open a window to prove her point and all of the boys eagerly raise their hands and state, "Me!" (That then consists of her dropping some of the liquid and a bird flying in due to it).

As Jenna walks in and immediately gets Max's attention, the Britney Spears song (where she sultrily sings, "Oh, baby, baby") plays on the soundtrack. That and the way it's shot makes the girl seem like a sex object and this happens again later.

SMOKING

None.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

Max gets a little upset with his father about his job forcing the family to move.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

How students may or may not face bad teachers/administrators and/or bullies in school.

What to do when other kids pick on you.

Having to move to another neighborhood or city as a kid.

The fact that Max, realizing he's moving to Chicago and thus won't face the repercussions of what he does, suddenly decides to turn the tables on those who've wronged or disrespected him in the past.

The lessons Max learns from that (including not forgetting your old friends).

Why Robe wears a bathrobe all of the time.

VIOLENCE

In a dream that Max has, the Ice Cream Man chases after him, firing scoops of ice cream at him (that hit another kid in the stomach, knocking him down). The two eventually end up in a mock version of a marital arts film where Max finally hits the man in the crotch with a newspaper and then knocks the man back through the air and over his ice cream truck. Moments later, a scoop of ice cream hits Jenna just as she's about to kiss Max (still in his dream).

Some slapstick material includes Principal Jindraike falling backwards out of his office chair; a door opening and Max walking into it; we hear the sound of Jindraike getting into a car accident (not seen); Jindraike throws a football to his assistant, but she doesn't try to catch it and it breaks a vase; and a chimpanzee jumps on Jindraike and knocks him down.

Troy picks up Max and then throws him into a mud puddle. After dropping what looks like sawdust onto him, he then apparently tosses him into a trash dumpster (we don't see the actual throwing, but do see Max afterwards, covered in trash).

Max throws a newspaper and hits the Ice Cream Man in the face.

Robe purposefully drops a beaker to distract a science teacher so that Max can steal some pheromones.

The Ice Cream Man throws Dobbs' PDA (personal digital assistant) to the ground and then repeatedly jumps up and down on it. The two then grab each other by the clothing and comically struggle with the other until Max dumps gallons of melted ice cream onto them.

We see that Troy has Robe down on the ground where he tells him he's going to pound him all day (we don't see the pounding).

Jindraike purposefully knocks a student's books to the floor.

Jindraike drags Max along by the back of his shirt and tosses him into a chair.

Max tries to hit Troy but misses and Dobbs then pushes Max into Troy's grasp. Others then come to Max's rescue, however, including some football players who carry Troy and Dobbs away, eventually letting them fall into a trash dumpster.

Jindraike drives a bulldozer through a fence.

Reviewed September 29, 2001 / Posted October 5, 2001

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