When my family saw the trailer on Comcast for the movie 30 Minutes or Less, it appeared to be your typical humorous–although violent–film. The premise: a young man named Nick gets into trouble with some dangerous criminals who strap a bomb to his chest and threaten to explode it. The only way Nick can avoid getting blown to smithereens, along with anything near him, is to follow the criminals’ instructions precisely–and what they want him to do is rob a bank, among other things.
My son and I saw the trailer on Comcast–which indicated the film was non-rated, at the time–and it looked like it would be seemed like a pretty sold PG-13. But then, a few weeks later, I saw the restricted version of the trailer on YouTube, and . . . Zoo-weee–mama! And I don’t mean that in a good way. It turns out that 30 Minutes or Less had some content that was EXTREMELY inappropriate for….well, anyone less than 21, as far as I’m concerned.
The truly offensive part of the restricted YouTube trailer involved a guy and a girl parked in a car. At first, we only see the guy–because the girl is bent over wither her head in the guy’s lap. Then the girl pops up and starts kissing the guy on the mouth. A minute later, the guy gets out of the car, and his friend offers him a swig of a drink–to get rid of the taste of him, according to the friend. WHAT DID HE SAY?!?!
We all know that sexual humor is rampant in many of today’s films. But what most disturbs me about this situation is that, in the trailer for 30 Minutes or Less that aired on Comcast, the car makeout scene was edited so heavily that it seemed to be telling an entirely different joke than the one that is actually told in the film. So any parent who saw the Comcast version would have thought the movie wasn’t that bad, and might be OK for older kids. As I, also, might have decided, if I hadn’t run across the restricted YouTube version of the trailer.
So, parents beware. Just as the Comcast version of 30 Minutes or Less was dangerously misleading, other movie trailers may also have this problem. What’s the solution, you ask, if you want to make sure a film is appropriate for your child or teen? Even if the movie rating states that the film is age-appropriate for your child, consider reading detailed customer reviews for the movie before going. Even supposedly age-appropriate films can contain content that may conflict with the morals you want to teach your kids. Obviously, this is even more important when your kids are younger–but it can apply with older teens, as well.