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The Purple Rose of Cairo

(1985, Rated PG, Comedy, Starring Jeff Daniels, Mia Farrow, Danny Aiello)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 10, age appropriate for kids over 12; suggested age 12.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0

  • Common Sense says

    Whimsical Woody Allen love note to '30s films.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 12 and Up

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    Tom Baxter is a stalwart movie hero, devised to be courageous, faithful, and polite -- so much so that he even charms some pretty cynical characters. The actor who created Tom, however, turns out to be two-faced. Cecilia, though trapped in a marriage she no longer wants, still chafes at the idea of leaving her husband (though part of this might be her waiflike and unassertive qualities). The 1930s movie characters shown include a somewhat stereotypical black maid.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    One fistfight.

  • Sex:

    Tom Baxter, as a fictitious 1930s Hollywood character, only knows as much about sex as studio censorship permits, and there is much talk of this, especially when he walks into a brothel and gets propositioned, with all kinds of kinky (but non-clinical) suggestions.

  • Language:

    "Douchebag," "whorehouse," and "hell" uttered.

  • Consumerism:

    Brief references to real-life movies of the 1930s.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Characters drink and smoke, both in reality and in the movie-within-a-movie (though the fictional ones have to use prop ginger ale).
 

What Parents Need to Know

About The Purple Rose of Cairo

Parents need to know that a lot of the movie deals with an innocent, fictional character, from a Golden Age Hollywood film (with morality dictated by studio censorship) suddenly faced with the real world, where people don't fight fair, where despair and unemployment and prostitution exist, and where sex is more than just a fadeout -- resulting in some innuendo-laden dialogue. Adultery is a large part of the plot, with Tom beseeching the married heroine to leave her loutish husband for him.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the many layers of the comedy here, and the depiction of Depression-era movies (that filmmaker Woody Allen obviously cherishes) as a form of escape from dismal reality. How might this plot have worked out today? What would you have done in Cecilia's place, faced with Prince Charming suitors in both the imaginary and the actual world? Is Tom Baxter right to equate his scriptwriter with God? Do you think the film ultimately makes a positive statement or a negative one about Hollywood and its ways?
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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer Age 13
    amateur_ebert
    I rate this title on for age 11 and give it 4.0

    A good Woody Allen for tweens

    Only Woody Allen could create an idea for a movie like The Purple Rose of Cairo. I say this because Woody Allen is a genius; the plot of Purple Rose was fairly complex, only Allen could have that creativity. The setting and characters were developed very well; by the end I knew who everyone was and where they were going. Performances from Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels were pleasing, but nothing amazing. Though I really did enjoyed Daniels’ dual roles. The story/screenplay was very good, something to be noted. Purple Rose was very good, but at times seemed a wee bit shallow. I did enjoy the movie; it was (most of the time) very compelling.

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