• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 16, age appropriate for kids over 17; suggested age 16.

• Is it any good?

  2.0

• Common Sense says

  Predictable mob movie is too violent for kids.

Why We Rated This for Ages 16–17

What to watch out for

• Messages:

  The film takes a nostalgic angle on memories of the New York mafia in the mid-'80s. The protagonist (who's the film's least pathological character) cheats in school, sees beatings and murders, drinks heavily, breaks an adversary's nose, and pursues a rival in order to execute him. Gangster characters are typically violent, greedy, and, in their own way, loyal.
• Violence:

  Frequent beatings and fights (punching, furniture throwing, kicking), with bloody injuries, broken noses, and cut faces; boys find a body with bloody holes in its head; a Vietnam war veteran shows the souvenir ear on his neck; a crew of thugs beats a man, then cuts off his ear in a meat-slicing machine (off screen, with much screaming, moaning, and blood splattering); shootings/executions leave a couple of protagonists with bloody holes in their chests; villain is beaten and shot.
• Sex:

  Repeated sexual slang (references to "broads," "chicks," "c--ks," "p---y," "blow job"); oral sex in a car; romantic kissing; sex between romantic couple is implied, with a post-sex scene showing her bare shoulders as she lies on top of him.
• Language:

  Tons of profanity, including more than 100 "f--k"s (several with "mother"), as well as multiple uses of "s--t," "a--hole," "hell," and "c--ksucker," plus other language ("jerk-off," "douchebag," "scumbag"), derogatory words ("queer"), and racist terms ("gook").
• Consumerism:

  Marlboro cigarettes, reference to Häagen-Dazs, and many time-setting pop cultural references, including Keith Partridge, Fred MacMurray, My Three Sons, Brigadoon, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Back to the Future, Psychology Today, Tom Brokaw, Pac-Man, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and Wheel of Fortune.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Frequent cigarette smoking, especially by Carmine and Cesar; drinking and drunkenness at parties and in bars.

What Parents Need to Know

About Brooklyn Rules

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