"THE SWEETEST THING"
(2002) (Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate) (R)

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

---

QUICK TAKE:

Romantic Comedy: A woman known for avoiding commitment finds herself traveling across the state to find a man she's unexpectedly and uncharacteristically fallen for.

PLOT:

Determined not to have her heart trampled upon anymore, San Franciscan Christina Walters (CAMERON DIAZ) has assumed a love 'em and leave 'em mentality where she's out to have a good time, but isn't looking for commitment. That changes one night, however, when she and her friend Courtney Rockliffe (CHRISTINA APPLEGATE) take their recently dumped friend, Jane Burns (SELMA BLAIR), out to a club to have some fun.

While trying to get someone to dance with Jane, Christina grabs Peter Donahue (THOMAS JANE) and tries to manipulate him into liking Jane. When he refuses, the antagonistic sparks fly between them, but so do some romantic ones. Meeting up again, the two apologize and Christina hears that Peter's brother, Roger (JASON BATEMAN), is getting married the following Saturday across the state, but she opts not to attend their party later that night.

When Courtney realizes and is surprised that Christina seems smitten with Peter, she encourages her to crash the wedding and so they set out on a road trip. Along the way, they run into various comical situations and obstacles, including the bride-to-be, Judy Webb (PARKER POSEY), who isn't sure she wants to get married.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

If they're fans of romantic comedies or anyone in the cast, they probably will.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R

For strong sexual content and language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

CAMERON DIAZ plays a single woman known as a love 'em and leave 'em type who unexpectedly finds herself smitten and obsessed with Peter. She uses strong profanity and dances around in her bra and panties while outside.

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE plays one of her close friends who encourages her to crash a wedding to find Peter. She also uses strong profanity and is seen in revealing attire.

SELMA BLAIR plays their other friend who uses strong profanity and engages in sexual activity with a man she hasn't known for long.

THOMAS JANE plays the man who charms Christina enough that she comes after him.

JASON BATEMAN plays his wild and rambunctious brother who uses some profanity.

PARKER POSEY plays a bride-to-be who isn't sure she wants to get married.

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 brief summary of the content found in this R-rated romantic comedy. Profanity consists of at least 13 "f" words, along with many other expletives and colorful phrases. Sexually related dialogue is also present, some of it being explicit.

Various forms of sexual encounters used for humor are seen or implied, including a dream/fantasy about female oral sex; a situation that looks like woman on woman oral sex; a standing sexual encounter (with movement and sounds); male oral sex (with the woman stuck down there, a woman discovering an anonymous homosexual oral sex hole in a bathroom and getting poked in the eye, and another scene with dried semen on a dress) and a woman holding her panty covered crotch after too much sex.

Various women are seen in revealing or scanty attire in various scenes, some adjust their own breasts (while getting others to touch fake ones in one scene), and a man's bare butt is briefly seen. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while some drink and one smokes while impersonating a movie character from another film. Some crude humor is also present (vomiting, a woman urinating while standing, dried semen on a dress, various comments, etc.) as is some behavior that might be imitated.

Meanwhile, some slapstick style violence/action is also present. Should you still be concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific descriptions of the film's content.

For those concerned with the flashing of lights on the screen, a bit of that occurs late in the film in a scene set in a dance club.

---

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

A man buys Christina and Courtney martinis in a club, where other people drink, including that man who has a beer. Later, Christina buys Peter a beer and we see them holding one each. Moments later, a drunk woman comes up and vomits on Roger.

Peter and Roger drink beer while at a driving range.

Various people drink in a dance club.

BLOOD/GORE

A miscellaneous man who comments on Christina suddenly gets a nosebleed (we see a trickle of blood come from one nostril).

A drunk woman vomits on Roger and we then see some vomit on his shirt.

As Jane prepares to take a dress to the dry cleaners, Courtney asks if she "got some" (semen) on it. Christina then asks if that's what she thinks it is, and we then see the dried semen stain on it. Jane then tries to leave the dress at the dry cleaners, but the owner chats with her, spots the stain and then wants to know what it is (scraping it with his fingernail and even licking and smelling it).

Christina finds some old food in Courtney's car that has maggots in it and throws it out the window (where it sails around the car and then lands on the windshield with a splat).

A woman's voice in a bathroom indicates she might be a while as she states she's "sh*tting out a brick."

Christina and Courtney then go into the men's bathroom to relieve themselves. Christina goes into the stall, while Courtney decides to use the urinal by positioning herself in front of it, bending over and urinating inside it. We don't see the actual act, but she complains that she got urine on her hands.

As Roger eats some fat-free chips, Peter tells him that they cause "anal leakage." After stating that Peter causes that, Roger spits out the ones in his mouth.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

A guy refers to Christina as a "hot piece of ass," while others refer to women as "chicks" and "hotties."

Christina refers to Peter as a "d*ck" when he doesn't fall for her ploy to dance with Jane.

After Peter tells Roger he'll probably be married to the same woman for 50 years, Roger says it's depressing and then comments on the woman's sagging "t*ts" and that she'll be able to use them as a belt or tuck them in her socks by then.

Courtney and Christina decide to crash a wedding without being invited.

Roger needs Peter to slap him before the wedding, and so he does, but lightly. Roger then says, "Don't be gay in God's house" and Peter then slaps him harder. Later, after Courtney tries to cover for interrupting the wedding by asking if this is a bar mitzvah, some people comment on that, with one saying that there aren't any Jews in their town.

FRIGHTENING SCENES

None.

GUNS/WEAPONS

None.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "Un-f*cking believable," "F*ck me" (nonsexual), "You're a f*cking dead man," "F*ck it," "Chickensh*t," "Stop talking sh*t about me," "Oh sh*t" "That was the sh*t," "You are the sh*t," "Sh*thead," "Horny" (sexual), "Jizz" (semen), "That guy was a d*ck," "You d*ck licker" (said playfully), "I'm going to rip your face off, p*ckerhead," "Hot piece of ass," "Shaking my ass," "Freaked out," "Shut up," "(You) Suck," "Bijiggity," "Loser," "Bitch" (said playfully), "It smells like moldy ass" "Whore," "What the hell were we thinking?" "I'm such an idiot," "How the hell do you know that?" and "Screwed up."

Christina and other women wear midriff-baring tops throughout the film.

Trying to get a man's attention to dance with Jane at a club, Christina grabs Peter's clothed butt as he passes by.

A grandfather wears a T-shirt that reads, "Who Farted?"

Courtney puts some sort of cream on Christina's finger while she sleeps and then tickles her face with a feather to make her unknowingly spread the cream on her face.

Courtney makes the hand & tongue gesture for female oral sex (running her tongue between her spread fingers at her mouth).

JUMP SCENES

None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

None.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

A song has lyrics about a sexual revolution but we didn't catch the context of that.

Courtney starts to sing the song "Relax" with the lyrics, "Relax, don't do it, when you want to get to it. Relax, don't do it, when you want to come."

PROFANITY

At least 13 "f" words (1 used with "mother" and 1 used sexually as is the term "get laid"), 19 "s" words, 15 slang terms for/using male genitals (variations of "d*ck," "c*ck," "p*cker" and "chimichanga"), 4 slang terms for/using female genitals ("poonanny" and "p*ssy"), 1 slang term for breasts ("t*ts"), 14 asses, 3 hells, 2 craps, 1 damn, 1 S.O.B., 22 uses of "Oh my God," 6 of "God," 4 each of "Jesus" and "Oh God," 2 each of "G-damn" and "Oh Jesus," and 1 use each of "Jesus Christ," "My God" and "For the love of God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY

Courtney and various other women show varying amounts of cleavage in various scenes throughout the film.

Trying to get a man's attention to dance with Jane at a club, Christina grabs Peter's clothed butt as he passes by. She then tells him that she thought maybe he and Jane could "get it on."

We see Courtney adjusting her breasts while looking in a bathroom mirror (we see a great deal of cleavage). Another less endowed woman stares at them, apologizes for doing so, and Courtney tells her not to worry since they're fake and that she can touch them. The woman declines the offer, but Christina tells her to, stating that Courtney likes it. That woman then does so (when Courtney grabs the woman's hand and places it there) and we then see various other women feeling Courtney's clothed breasts as she carries on an unrelated conversation with Christina. Some guys at the club then spot this as they pass by the open bathroom door and then stare in at the various women groping Courtney's breasts, stating, "That's why chicks always go to the bathroom together."

A guy kisses down Courtney's neck as they dance in a club, while we see Jane graphically French kissing a guy she just met.

Cameron has a dream where we see her lying in bed, obviously being pleasured by someone performing oral sex on her. We first see a torso shot of her in a negligee of sorts, somewhat writhing about under the sheets and acting orgasmic. When she's done, Peter then partially comes out from under the covers and states that he'd like to do that every hour on the hour for the rest of his life. He then states that she doesn't need to worry about returning the favor, that men don't really like oral sex as it was a myth started in the '50s. We then see them snuggling in bed, and after some ice cream is delivered by room service, Peter states he knows he said he wanted to do it (perform oral sex) every hour on the hour, but asks if he can do it again. She says okay, he then goes back under the sheets and we watch her eating ice cream and appearing sexually pleasured. We then see her moving about on the sofa while dreaming all of that until she wakes up.

As Jane prepares to take a dress to the dry cleaners, Courtney asks if she "got some" (semen) on it. Christina then asks if that's what she thinks it is, and we then see the dried semen stain on it. When Jane asks what she's going to say to the dry cleaner (that she personally knows), one of them responds, "Can you help me with my jizz?" When Jane then tells them, "You suck," Christina replies, "No, obviously you suck" (meaning sexual).

Jane then tries to leave the dress at the dry cleaners, but the owner chats with her, spots the stain and then wants to know what it is (scraping it with his fingernail). As he tries to figure that out (and even licks and smells it), Jane's former 3rd grade teacher arrives with her class on a field trip, while a priest who knows her also enters.

Peter's grandfather tells him that he should have "poked her in the whiskers when you had the chance" (referring to Christina).

Jane's overnight date runs into Christina and Courtney at a door. The camera shot is between his legs at them, and when he drops the towel around him, they stare at his crotch (that we don't see). He then runs off and we briefly see his bare butt as Christina can't believe she said, "Oh my c*ck." Jane then walks out wearing a tight tank-top and very small panties. She holds/rubs her crotch and asks the two if they have any pain medication (implying she's worn out from sex).

When Christina complains about a smell in Courtney's car and then goes to look for it (with her clothed rear end sticking out from the rear seat), Courtney says that maybe it's her (Christina). The two women then state that they haven't ever had any complaints in the "poonanny odor department."

Christina and Courtney then go into the men's bathroom to relieve themselves. Christina goes into the stall where she reads some sexually related graffiti and then sees writing about following the yellow brick road. She then follows the drawings over to a hole in the wall and inquisitively moves closer to it, wondering what's in there. She then reacts to being poked in the eye (we learn by a penis as the hole was designed for anonymous, homosexual oral sex) and states, "I got f*cked in the eye," with Courtney joking that she's okay, but pregnant from that.

After broken plumbing soaks the two women, Christina and Courtney strip down to their bras and underwear (Christina's are small, while Courtney is wearing men's briefs). As their favorite song then plays on the radio, they dance around (outdoors) dressed that way.

Jane's coworker says, "someone needs to get some" (sex in relation to how Jane is acting). A costumed character then enters the store (Jane's latest boyfriend) and she states that she's "horny" (he states that he is as well). She then leads him upstairs to a dressing room where they have sex standing up and face to face (with movement and related sounds in a torsos and up shot). She eventually falls from the dressing room during that.

As Christina and Courtney drive down the road still dressed in just their bras and underwear, Courtney drops her bottle of fingernail polish. Christina then goes over to get it, with her panty-covered butt in the air and her head down toward Courtney's legs and crotch. A male motorcyclist then passes by and sees what he thinks is female oral sex (since that's what his view looks like). Courtney then decides to play along, and acts like she's orgasmic (saying, "Oh yeah, right there") and makes the hand & tongue gesture for female oral sex (running her tongue between her spread fingers at her mouth). As the man enthusiastically watches, he says, "Let me have some of that." Nothing else happens, however, as the man wipes out on his motorcycle.

Later, and with their clothes still apparently wet, the two get out of their car and wrap street maps around their underwear to go into a store and buy clothes.

While trying on clothes and looking in a mirror, Christina holds and moves her bra-covered breasts up and down, commenting on how they were when she was 22 and now at 28.

Christina and Courtney return home to find a great commotion and many people at their house. Rushing in after being told it's not a pretty sight, they find Jane with her mouth stuck around a man's privates after apparently performing oral sex on him. We see a brief shot of her head down at his crotch (from behind her) and then close-ups of just her face (but nothing explicit). When asked how exactly she's stuck there, the man says that he has a piercing, with another man stating that it's stuck back beyond her tonsils (and another man asks how that man knows that). The women then try to get Jane to sing so that her throat will relax (we hear her muffled voice) and they and everyone else in the room then does that (with Courtney starting to sing the song "Relax" with the lyrics, "Relax, don't do it, when you want to get to it. Relax, don't do it, when you want to come." She stops when she realizes the connotations). As everyone sings a song, two leather-clad men kiss each other. Jane's mouth finally comes loose and we then see her in her bra.

Jane asks Courtney if her new boyfriend has any piercings (related to the above) and Courtney replies that she doesn't know because "I haven't done that yet."

After we hear that Peter is going to Costa Rica, Roger jokes that the woman there will "take your chimichanga" (an unfinished reference to his genitals).

After Christina opens up to a guy about love, etc. he walks away complaining, "What's a guy got to do to get laid?"

Christina and Peter passionately kiss while standing on the street.

In the outtakes during the end credit roll, we see more women feeling Courtney's clothed breasts (from an above scene) and then her pulling out some falsies; there's some talk of a girl getting licked; more shots of Christina and Courtney in their bras and underwear; Jane saying that her costumed character boyfriend "got my ass there" and then says "now it's good" as they're having sex standing up (from an above scene); and an old man (from an above scene) asks a younger woman, "So I guess a blow job's out of the question?"

SMOKING

During a movie montage of trying on clothes, Christina appears as Olivia Newton-John in "Grease" and has a cigarette.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

The dating game and how different people react differently to that and/or being burned in the past.

Christina's decision to look for "Mr. Right Now" rather than "Mr. Right."

Jane being sexually involved with a guy she hasn't known for long.

VIOLENCE

A guy on a stationary exercise bicycle suddenly flies off and crashes into a mirrored wall.

Christina opens a bathroom door that accidentally smacks two guys trying to peek inside, knocking one of them back into Peter.

Christina smacks Roger's hand away from her.

Jane hits a costumed character on the head with her bag when she thinks he's making fun of her.

Jane's male boss pushes/pokes her female coworker on the shoulder in anger.

A costumed character falls over a railing while going down some steps.

A man wipes out on his motorcycle while distracted by Courtney and Christina.

Roger needs Peter to slap him before the wedding, and so he does, but lightly. Roger then says, "Don't be gay in God's house" and Peter then slaps him harder.

Judy's father tackles the former groom-to-be after the wedding is called off. He later does the same at the no-wedding reception.

A passing car smashes into a mannequin that's out on the street.

Reviewed April 9, 2002 / Posted April 12, 2002

Other new and recent reviews include:

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2022 Screen It, Inc.