Today’s Prayer Focus

Hot Rod

also known as “Hot Rod—Mit Vollgas durch die Hölle”

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA)

for crude humor, language, some comic drug-related and violent content.

Moral Rating:	not reviewed
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Teens
Genre:	Action Romance Comedy
Length:	1 hr. 28 min.
Year of Release:	2007
USA Release:	August 3, 2007 (wide)

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Featuring	Andy Samberg, Isla Fisher, Jorma Taccone, Ian McShane, Sissy Spacek
Director	Akiva Schaffer “Saturday Night Live”
Producer	Jill Messick, Lorne Michaels, John Goldwyn
Distributor	Paramount Pictures Corporation, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS

“Smack destiny in the face”

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “Amateur stuntman Rod Kimble has a problem—his step-father Frank is a jerk. Frank picks on Rod, tosses him around like a rag doll in their weekly sparring sessions, and definitely doesn’t respect him, much less his stunts. But when Frank falls ill, it’s up to Rod to stage the jump of his life in order to save his step-father. The plan: Jump 15 buses, raise the money for Frank’s heart operation, and then—kick his a**.”

Volunteer reviewer needed for this movie

Negative—I was truly going to enjoy this movie! I loved all the ads for it, and thought it would be another funny film like “Napolean Dynamite.” I went to see it while on vacation with my husband and 14 year old son. I had to apologize to my teen afterward. I was totally offended by almost every moment of this movie! I laughed at the obsurdity and crazy random lines at times, but was sickened by the intense need to be worse-than-juvenile in its bodily function/crude humor category. Sex was mentioned way too much, and one of the actors went too far describing his view of FM radio and TV. I almost left a couple of times, but the plot did invite me to stay to see what happened. After the movie, we reenacted some of the funny parts, like the COOL BEANS session and the way Rod said “wisky” like “quisky” for the password. I told a lot of my friends that I wanted to see this movie, and now I will tell them not to see it. It was a waste of time and overly offensive!
My Ratings: Extremely Offensive / 2

Shirley, age almost 40

Negative—…I actually got a free pass to this film so I couldn’t actually walk out and get my money back. I would say that the film is slightly more offensive than the “average” rating. The film is poorly made with bad camera shots, bad camera angles, and has a really bad script about a man-child (SNL’s Andy Samberg) whose childhood dream is to be a stuntman like Evel Kneivel. From a Christian worldview, it’s pretty obvious that it doesn’t follow that viewpoint; there are cuss words here and there, one f-bomb, and one inappropriate YouTube-esque video clip (not going to mention it here). However, it does have a positive theme that people should be able to follow their dreams no matter what others say. Still, not even the post-movie Q&A session with the director and actors could explain how poorly made this film is.
My Ratings: Offensive / 2

Shannon H., age 25

Comments from young people

Positive—If you like Saturday Night Live, you would probably like this movie. This movie was very funny and would appeal to people who like slapstick comedy. Andy Samberg is very funny on SNL and also in this film.
My Ratings: Better than Average / 5

Warren, age 15

Negative—I went to this with my younger brother who’s 12, and we laughed most of the movie, but I found it extremely offensive because it said the f-word once and had way to much talk about sex and dumb stuff like that. It was pretty funny in parts, but I really do say not to see this movie. I definitely should not have gone, and it’s a bad movie.
My Ratings: Extremely Offensive / 1

Jacob, age 16