What parents need to know
Violence
Sex
Language
Consumerism
Drinking, drugs, & smoking
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this movie features characters taking advantage of one another. It hints at the fact that the scam victims' money was ill-gotten, and therefore they deserve to be fleeced. No one in this film is particularly moral. If the two scammers have a fatal flaw, it's their overconfidence rather than their immorality. Steve Martin's turn as a developmentally challenged, and later, physically challenged, man plays mental and physical deficiencies for laughs.
User reviews
Parents say
Kids say
What's the story?
In DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS Steve Martin and Michael Caine compete in a battle of sleazy shysters. When boorish American Freddy Benson (Steve Martin) homes in on debonair European Lawrence Jamieson's (Michael Caine) territory, Jamieson offers to become Benson's tutor. Benson bristles at Jamieson's attempt to condition him, and the two agree to a not-so-friendly competition to bilk a young heiress out of her fortune.
Is it any good?
QUALITY
The difference between European cultural pretension and American crassness is at the center of the comedy. The film is a role reversal of sorts, with men fleecing women who have presumably come upon their fortunes by marrying doddering millionaires. It's enjoyable to watch Caine pretend to be a psychologist, and Martin is as animated as ever, faking paralysis only to dance for joy in the following scene. The story turns into a standard wager plot, with the real winner discovering his scruples just in time to save his soul. Needless to say, the swindlers get their comeuppance, the scammers become the scammed, and the story ends with yet another hoax in the offing.
Still, the two never establish the chemistry of a great comedy team, and the gags tend to get repetitive. If the film has anything going for it, it's the unpredictability of the game of courtship between two men and one woman. Due to the subject matter, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is not appropriate for kids.
Families can talk about...
Families can talk about whether those who swindle deserve to be swindled. Is there any place for such retributive vigilantism in our society? Is such a thing common? Is it okay to take advantage of the rich, just to even things out? Is being clever better than being good?
Movie details
| Theatrical release date: | December 14, 1988 |
| DVD release date: | December 17, 1997 |
| Cast: | Glenne Headly, Michael Caine, Steve Martin |
| Director: | Frank Oz |
| Studio: | Image Entertainment |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 110 minutes |
| MPAA rating: | PG |
| MPAA explanation: | language |
Great handpicked alternatives
Browse more movies
Top advice and articles
What parents and kids say
Share your thoughts with other parents and kids Write a user review
A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines
QUALITY
Funny slapstick but mocks both disabled and mentally challenged people
I rented this movie to watch with my 12 year old daughter, 7 year old son and husband then checked out the Common Sense review. Despite the 15+ rating my husband wanted to give it a go. So we did with alot of intrepedation on my part. Luckily, it wasn't as sexually explicit as I'd expected and there was really no violence or profane language to speak of. The biggest problem I had was that Steve Martin portrays (and as a consequence jokes at the expense of ) both a mentally challenged and a disabled person. So we spent some time after the movie discussing how that might make people who are facing those challenges feel. My 12 year old daughter was really uncomfortable with that aspect.
QUALITY
very entertaining
great movie but the entire movie is about lying stealing money and trying to make money off of rich women but very entertaining
What other families should know
Too much sex
QUALITY
Funny movie
I liked it, I didn't think there was anything especially spectacular, but it was enjoyable enough.
