Movie Viewers Will Hear Scream 3
Over This Week's Movie Line List

WASHINGTON (February 4, 2000) -- Movie viewers will hear Scream 3 over this week's movie line list. The February 4-10 list includes the following theater releases and their classifications according to moral suitability. Movies are evaluated according to artistic merit and moral suitability by the U.S. Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting.

The 1-800-311-4CCC movie line is a project of the Catholic Communication Campaign (CCC).

• Scream 3 -- Because of excessive violence, sexual references, profanity and recurring rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is O -- Morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Scream 3 is the final installment of the campy horror trilogy where the surviving characters from the first two films (played by Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette), come together as adults to discover the identity of the masked killer who is still wreaking havoc on their lives. The horrific blood bath continues as the killer makes Swiss cheese of his victims in a mindless unreeling of mayhem and gore.
  

• Eye of the Beholder -- Because of recurring brutal violence, promiscuous sexual situations, some nudity, brief drug abuse and frequent rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is O - morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Eye of the Beholder is a pathetic psychological thriller about a British agent (Ewan McGregor) who becomes obsessed with an icy American murderer (Ashley Judd) he has been assigned to investigate. The trashy melodrama is unintentionally laughable, presenting an absurdly smitten agent who chooses to protect the serial killer instead of her random victims.
  

• Isn't She Great -- Because of some crude sexual references and homosexual innuendo, depictions of fairly explicit book covers, and recurring rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-IV - adults, with reservations. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - - restricted. Isn't She Great is a disappointing, campy biography about flamboyant author Jacqueline Susann (played by Bette Midler) whose gaudy wardrobe and steadfast manager-husband (Nathan Lane) helped propel her to the fame she desperately sought. Based on a New Yorker Magazine article about Susann, the comedy-drama touches on her personal tragedies, but is mostly content to present just a glossy treatment of her life.
  
  
• Simpatico -- Because of a harsh sexual encounter, fleeting violence, occasional profanity and intermittent rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III --- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. In Simpatico, a horse racing crime committed 25 years earlier by three former friends (Nick Nolte, Jeff Bridges and Sharon Stone) continues to haunt them as one is determined to shake up the privileged lives of the other two. Densely plotted with continuous flashbacks to the trio's crucial younger days, the movie is emotionally involving and morally intriguing, but limps to an unconvincing conclusion.

• Topsy-Turvy -- Because of sexual situations with brief full nudity, references to abortion and occasional substance abuse, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-IV -- adults, with reservations. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Topsy-Turvy is a sprightly dramatization that follows the 1884 career slump, then revival of British light-opera mavens Gilbert & Sullivan (played by Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner) as they collaborated on "The Mikado." The movie is a lengthy, bustling valentine to the creative process involved in musical theatre productions that wryly mocks the human frailties of the artistic temperament.

• Gun Shy -- Because of some sexual references, an implied homosexual relationship, brief nudity and recurring rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Gun Shy is a tired comedy in which a frazzled undercover agent (played by Liam Neeson) working among murderous mobsters loses his nerve but is helped by group therapy and an unconventional girlfriend (Sandra Bullock). A sloppy script offers few laughs in presenting the overly familiar premise of a tough guy seeking psychiatric comfort.

Family Video of the Week:

• The Jackie Robinson Story -- The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-I -- general patronage. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. Released in 1950, The Jackie Robinson Story stars Robinson as himself in a dramatized account of his life from college athlete and World War II service to being hired in 1946 by the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African-American player in major league baseball. The result emphasizes Robinson's prowess on the field and his resolve to be a credit to his race, despite insults and threats by white bigots.

The classifications are A-I - general patronage; A-II - adults and adolescents; A-III - adults; A-IV - adults, with reservations (an A-IV classification designates problematic films that, while not morally offensive in themselves, require caution and some analysis and explanation as a safeguard against wrong interpretations and false conclusions); O - morally offensive.

The movie reviews are produced by the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) Office for Film and Broadcasting, which each week provides full length movie reviews, brief capsules and film classifications of new theater releases.

Reviewers include Gerri Pare, Director, and Anne Novarro, Officer, of the Film and Broadcasting Office, which is funded by the CCC.

The capsule reviews are available on the World Wide Web. They can be found on two sites: http://www.nccbuscc.org and http://www.CatholicDigest.org/stops/movies/index.html.

Reviews of movies classified by the USCC can also be found in Our Sunday Visitor's Family Guide to Movies and Videos, edited by Henry Herx and available in bookstores for $29.95 per copy. They can also be ordered direct from OSV by calling 1-800-348-2440 or ordered online at www.osv.com.




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Office of Communications
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000