SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: MULHOLLAND DRIVE

"MULHOLLAND DRIVE"
(2001) (Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Minor	Moderate	Extreme	Moderate	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Minor	None	Extreme	None	Heavy

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Extreme	Moderate	None	Mild	Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: An aspiring actress helps a woman with amnesia uncover what led to her condition.

PLOT:

Betty Elms (NAOMI WATTS) is a young woman who's traveled from Toronto to Hollywood hoping to make it in the movies. Arriving at her absent aunt's apartment complex - that's run by Coco Lenoix (ANN MILLER) - Betty discovers a stranger who goes by the name of Rita (LAURA ELENA HARRING) since she can't remember her real name after a car accident abruptly interrupted what looked like her assassination.

Adam Kesher (JUSTIN THEROUX) is a film director who's having casting problems with his latest picture. It seems that a mysterious individual, Mr. Roque (MICHAEL J. ANDERSON), and his hot-tempered front man, Vincenzo Castigliane (DAN HEDAYA), want a certain actress cast in the lead part, something about which Adam isn't particularly happy.

As he deals with that and Detective McKnight (ROBERT FORSTER) investigates the aforementioned car accident, Betty sets out to assist Rita in discovering her real identity and uncovering the details of the accident, including the location of her initial destination somewhere on Mulholland Drive.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Those who are fans of director David Lynch or someone in the cast probably will, but it's questionable how many other kids will want to see this film.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For violence, language and some strong sexuality.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: NAOMI WATTS plays an aspiring actress who befriends Rita and tries to help her uncover her real identity. She also has a lesbian encounter with her.
LAURA ELENA HARRING plays a woman who can't remember her name after a car accident and has a lesbian encounter with Rita.
JUSTIN THEROUX plays a filmmaker who's irritated at others' decision-making involving his film. He smokes some.
ANN MILLER plays the manager of an apartment complex who becomes suspicious of Betty and Rita.; LAURA ELENA HARRING plays a woman who can't remember her name after a car accident and has a lesbian encounter with Rita.
JUSTIN THEROUX plays a filmmaker who's irritated at others' decision-making involving his film. He smokes some.
ANN MILLER plays the manager of an apartment complex who becomes suspicious of Betty and Rita.; JUSTIN THEROUX plays a filmmaker who's irritated at others' decision-making involving his film. He smokes some.
ANN MILLER plays the manager of an apartment complex who becomes suspicious of Betty and Rita.; ANN MILLER plays the manager of an apartment complex who becomes suspicious of Betty and Rita.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

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).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

Here's a quick look at the content found in this R-rated film. Profanity is listed as heavy due to the use of at least 3 "f" words, along with a handful of other expletives and colorful phrases. Some non-explicit, sexually related comments are made, particularly during some lesbian encounters that show bare breasts, groping, passionate making out and heavy breathing. Some heterosexual making out also occurs during an acting audition, a woman is seen masturbating, and a man comes home to find his wife in bed with another man.

Violence is listed as extreme due to a person shooting and killing several other people, another person shooting herself, a fatal car accident, an attempted lethal hit and some non-lethal fighting. Those scenes and others may be unsettling or suspenseful for some viewers - particularly as accompanied or lead by ominous and suspenseful music - a few have bloody results, and various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes and some smoke.

Should you still be concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, we suggest that you examine our detailed content listings more closely for specific information regarding what's present and/or occurs in the film.

For those concerned with flashes of light on the screen, some of that occurs later in the film during a performance segment and then later during another unrelated scene.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Adam and others have wine.

BLOOD/GORE: We see a presumably dead body on the ground after a car accident.
Rita has a little bit of blood on the side of her head.
We see a homeless man with a dirty and/or bloody face.
We see some dog excrement on a patio.
A woman has bruises on her arms like finger marks.
Adam has a little bit of blood from his nose after being punched.
We see a dead body on a bed.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: A man shoots several other people dead.
Adam comes home to find his wife, Lorraine, in bed with another man.
Betty and Rita break into a woman's apartment.
A person hires someone to kill a third person.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Scenes listed under "Violence" may also be unsettling or suspenseful for some viewers, especially when ominous music accompanies them and other scenes.
After recounting a scary dream he had, a young man walks along the side of a restaurant toward the back, nervously expecting to see a face he had described from that dream. He then sees a homeless man with a dirty and/or bloody face.
After Rita tells Betty to duck down from a man, the two of them break into a woman's apartment and then seemingly react to a bad smell in the place. After slowly making their way through the place, they find a body on the bed.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns: Used to threaten or shoot people dead. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "No f*cking way," "What the hell are you even doing here?" "Bastard," "What you're telling me is a load of horse pucky" and "Sucker."

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): An extreme amount of ominous and suspenseful music plays during the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: At least 3 "f" words, 1 "s" word, 2 hells and 1 use each of "God, "Oh God" and "Oh my God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: We see Rita's nude silhouette through the shower door as Betty walks in on her in the bathroom. We then see Rita with just a towel around her and she shows some cleavage.
A man pats a woman on her rear end.
Adam comes home to find his wife in bed with another man, with the sheets up covering her breasts. As she gets dressed, we see her in her bra.
During an audition for a part, Betty takes her male co-star's hand and puts it on her clothed butt. She then acts quite sensuously as they kiss (and there's heavy breathing).
We see Rita's bare breasts several times before she and Betty passionately kiss in bed. More making out follows, with Rita removing Betty's top and then caressing her bare breasts. After they briefly discuss whether either has done this before - amid some heavy breathing - Betty then caresses Rita's bare breasts and tells her that she "wants to" (have sex) with her (and then repeats that she wants to "make love to you"). We then see more kissing and the occasional caressing of breasts.
A woman gets on top of another woman and feels her bare breasts, with one woman telling the other, "You drive me wild." They make out some more and we see more views of bare breasts.
Adam passionately makes out with an actress after showing another actor how to do that in a scene from a movie.
We see a woman masturbating as the camera follows her arm down to her hand moving inside her open pants.
A woman comes up and kisses another woman at a party.

SMOKING: Adam smokes around five times, while a few other characters smoke as well and we see some cigarette butts in an ashtray in one scene.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: What exactly happens in the story and/or what it's all supposed to mean.
The process of making films and aspiring actresses (and actors) who arrive in Hollywood hoping to make it in the movies.

VIOLENCE: A man holds a gun on Rita as he tells her to get out of a car. As two other cars race down the road, however, one of them smashes into this car. We then see one presumably dead body on the ground.
Upset at being pushed around in his casting choices, Adam smashes a limo's windshield with a golf club or similar object.
A man suddenly shoots another man dead. As he tries to set up the murder to look like a suicide, a shot accidentally fires through the wall, hitting a woman (we hear her reaction). He then finds this woman and grabs her, with her hitting and elbowing him. He then punches her several times in the face and struggles more with her. He then asks another man to help him (as if he's helping the woman), and shoots the woman twice in the back and then shoots the other man dead. He then shoots a vacuum cleaner (all of which is played a bit more for goody weirdness than straightforward, graphic violence).
Adam's wife tries hitting on him to make him stop pouring paint into her jewelry box (for finding her in bed with another man), but that doesn't stop him until that other man punches Adam and then picks him up and throws him into something.
A large man comes looking for Adam and his wife jumps on the man's back trying to make him leave. He struggles with her and then hits the wife's lover when he tries to intervene.
A person shoots themselves in the head.

Reviewed August 30, 2001 / Posted October 12, 2001

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