• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 13, age appropriate for kids over 14; suggested age 13.

• Is it any good?

  3.0

• Common Sense says

  Morally grounded kids in the hood come of age.

Why We Rated This for Ages 13–14

What to watch out for

• Messages:

  Living in a poor neighborhood, orphaned 17-year-old looks after his little brother, bonds (and briefly fights) with his friends through roller skating, pursues his ambition to draw comics; the primary villain (a drug dealer) intimidates the community and eventually shoots one of his workers.
• Violence:

  Menacing gangster appears throughout; brief discussion of parents killed in car crash; brief violence erupts near the end: a boy is beaten by thugs who steal his money and drugs he's supposed to sell; a dealer shoots a boy for vengeance (shooting offscreen, but the result -- his family worrying in the hospital -- makes clear he's injured).
• Sex:

  Kids make out in background shots at school; a romantic, nonexplicit sex scene (not explicit, facial close-ups, tenderness); frequent images of girls' bottoms, tight clothing, bikinis, and cleavage; sexual slang.
• Language:

  One f-word, over ten s-words, one b-word, frequent use of "ass" and "damn," slang for sexual activity and genitalia ("titty,"booty," "cuddy"), at least two uses of the n-word; some hip-hop songs on soundtrack also include brief language.
• Consumerism:

  Golden Crisp cereal.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  High schoolers drink at parties; villain smokes cigars; brief cigarette smoking in background; a couple of characters sell drugs (and one adult considers this might be a good income for the household, before his nephew argues against it);

What Parents Need to Know

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