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Keeping Up with the Steins

(2006, Rated PG-13, Comedy, Starring Jeremy Piven, Jami Gertz, Garry Marshall)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 12, age appropriate for kids over 13; suggested age 13.

  • Is it any good?

    3.0

  • Common Sense says

    So-so comedy about over-the-top bar mitzvah.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 13 and Up

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Children lie to parents; adult child is angry at his father, who left the family 20 years ago; kids tease Benjamin, burp, and throw up (after drinking parents' liquor).

  • Violence:

    Slapsticky humor; Irwin pulls a sword on a driver who tries to fight him after a car accident (this upsets Benjamin's father).

  • Sex:

    Mostly jokey references to youthful desire (Ben has a crush on a girl and fumbles his way through asking her to his bar mitzvah); Benjamin has what looks like a sexy-girls site on his computer screen, which he hides when Adam enters his room; Irwin and his girlfriend appear naked in a pool (we see his back, and only hints of her breasts); wedding planner mentions a past job for a "Rastafarian gay marriage."

  • Language:

    One s-word, several uses of "hell," "crap," and slang for sex act ("get laid") and genitals.

  • Consumerism:

    References to Versace, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Bill O'Reilly, The Real World.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    13-year-olds sneak drinks, get instantly drunk, then Ben throws up.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Keeping Up with the Steins

Parents need to know the film includes jokes concerning a 13-year-old boy's burgeoning sexual interests, as well as his anxiety about "becoming a man" via his bar mitzvah. Using broad Jewish, uptight-suburban, and "hippie" stereotypes, the film establishes a series of conflicts to be resolved by the end. The film includes mild language, several sexual allusions (as 13-year-olds begin to notice the opposite sex), and some underage drinking (three boys steal liquor from parents' cabinet, get tipsy, and then one throws up, whereupon his grandfather covers for him, understanding that "boys will be boys"). A grandfather and his younger girlfriend appear naked in a pool (the grandson sees their naked behinds). The grandfather pulls out a sword to fight off an angry driver.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the tension between Irwin and Adam, as this is premised on Irwin's abandonment of his family 20 years before: How can Adam forgive his father? (And how is it hard for him to accept that his mother forgives his father?) How can traditional rituals (like bar mitzvahs or birthday parties) simultaneously be exciting and stressful?
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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer Age 13
    moviebash
    Lives in District of Columbia
    I rate this title iffy for age 2 and give it 5.0

    I laughed!

    Wonderful film about a bar mitzvah

    This review...

    Helped me decide | Had useful details | Read my mind
    Flag as inappropriate

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