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Brad's Status | 2017 | R | - 3.1.7

While a man (Ben Stiller) is touring the campuses of prestigious colleges with his son (Austin Abrams), he experiences an existential crisis that makes him question his life and the choices he has made. Also with Jenna Fischer, Michael Sheen, Jemaine Clement, Luke Wilson, Mike White and Shazi Raja. Directed by Mike White. [1:42]

SEX/NUDITY 3 - Many scantily clad men in tiny Speedos are shown around and in a swimming pool (bare chests and abdomens to the hips are seen). A young man is shown with a towel wrapped around his waist (his chest and abdomen are seen) and his father enters the room commenting on his having the body of a man now. A teen boy sleeps in bed shirtless and we see his bare back. A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage in a couple of scenes.
 Two men kiss. A man imagines walking with two women wearing bikinis (cleavage and abdomens are seen) on a beach and one kisses him. A husband and his wife lie in bed together in a few scenes (they're fully clothed and no sex is implied). We see the wedding reception of two men where they smear cake in each other's faces lovingly. A man holds the hand of another man in a few scenes.
 A man talks about, "The great sex he must be having," referring to another man living with two women on an island; we see the man with two women wearing bikinis, hugging and kissing him (cleavage, bare abdomens and legs as well as partial buttocks are seen). A man says of another man, "The gayer he gets..." and then describes men wearing "banana hammocks" and looking like a "gay porno."

VIOLENCE/GORE 1 - A husband accidentally hits his wife in the face while in bed, waking her (we do not see any injury). A man and his teen son wrestle on a bed and the man falls on the floor (he is not hurt).
 We see mass shooting drills being practiced in an elementary school. A man argues with another man in a restaurant and leaves angrily. A teen boy and his father argue in a few scenes. A man talks about feeling like someone was, "Rubbing my nose in it." A husband quizzes his wife about how much her parents' home is worth and complains about them not leaving her anything (they are still alive). A man complains that he and his wife have no more potential. A man says, "This is not the life I imagined." A man asks another man on the phone, "Did somebody die?" A man says, "My daughter has a tethered spine." We hear that a man had a stroke and never recovered.

LANGUAGE 7 - About 24 F-words, 10 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (pathetic, decadent, stupid, absurd, mediocrity, entitled, spoiled, nobody, lame ducks, crazy, mentally ill, jerk, total crook,, thief, condescending, sexist, nuts), exclamations (shut-up), 2 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God).

SUBSTANCE USE - A young boy snorts a line of cocaine (in an imagined occurrence), and a man gestures that another man does cocaine and injects himself with drugs. Several people are seen with glasses of wine at a dinner, several people are seen at a bar drinking beer and glasses of whiskey, two men drink wine at a restaurant, people are shown with wine at another dinner, people are served champagne on an airplane, a man holds a glass of beer or wine (he does not drink from it), a man drinks a beer in a restaurant, a man drinks a whiskey and coke, and several men are shown drinking alcoholic beverages at a pool bar.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Life choices, doubt, success, measuring success, depression, philanthropy, comparing lives, failure, parenting, regrets, children growing up and leaving home, transitions, contentment, being easily satisfied, ambition, jealousy, pressure, loss of friendships, gay marriage, social reform, women's rights, colonialism, grief, selling out, early retirement, having heroes, non-profit organizations, white privilege, male privilege.

MESSAGE - Life is crazy.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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