Not suitable under 14; parental guidance to 14 (adult themes, drug use, coarse language)
This topic contains:
Children under 14 | Not suitable due to adult themes, drug use and frequent coarse language. |
Children aged 14 | Parental guidance recommended due to adult themes, drug use and coarse language. |
Children aged 15 and over | Ok for this age group. |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Holdovers, The |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Mature themes and coarse language |
Length: | 133 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Set in 1970, students at an elite boarding school, Barton Academy, who have nowhere to go for the Christmas holidays, remain at school and are known as ‘the holdovers’. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is a curmudgeonly, traditionalist classics teacher, much disliked by students and staff alike. When he fails to sacrifice his integrity by failing a son of a large donor, the principal Dr Woodrup (Andrew Garman), also a former student of Hunham’s, punishes him by giving him the job of supervising the holdovers.
Hunham is joined by Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) the head cook, Danny (Naheem Garcia) the janitor, and students: Teddy Kountze (Brady Hepner), Jason Smith (Michael Provost), Ye-Joon Park (Jim Kaplan), and Alex Ollerman (Ian Dolley). Another student joins them, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), whose planned holiday to St Kitts is cancelled by his mother and new husband at the last minute. Angus is a brilliant but troubled young man who causes trouble for all around him. Just before Christmas Day, one of the boy’s parents arrive in a helicopter to take the boys on a skiing trip, however, Angus cannot go as Hunham has been unable to contact his mother to get permission. Hunham and Angus spend the next few weeks getting to know each other and discover that they are more alike than either could have imagined.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Boarding School; Parental Abandonment; Integrity; Self-discovery; Mental Health.
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
There is some violence in this movie, including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is frequent coarse language in this movie, including:
The Holdovers is a comedy/drama Christmas movie with a difference. It shows that not everyone’s Christmas is merry and bright, which is particularly true for the bereaved. The movie upholds the values of truth and integrity, and, as such, is very uplifting. However, due to the adult themes in the movie it isn’t suitable for under 14’s and is more suited to older teens and adults.
The main messages from this movie are not to judge people on face value as their background is unknown; and that adversity builds character.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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