The Fast and the Furious

  • Review Date: June 4, 2003
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Thriller
  • 2001
 Review

Common Sense Media says

This is a bad, bad movie. Skip it.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this is as close to an R as it can be and remain a PG-13. It's very violent, with shoot-outs that leave one character dead and another seriously wounded. A character takes one risk that appears suicidal. Characters drink and smoke. Corona beer seems to be an especially obvious product placement, and giving someone a beer is a gesture of honor and acceptance. There is a same-sex kiss, some skanky behavior, and women appear in scanty clothing. There's a non-graphic but explicit sexual situation. Characters use very strong language, including the "N" word and other racial slurs. Viewers see some gross photographs of an injured man. Characters are in extreme peril, both in racing and in shoot-outs. Robbing and shooting are sympathetically portrayed, and Brian's ultimate decision is a serious betrayal.

  • Gangs mostly divide along racial lines, strong women characters but also many bimbos.
  • Chases, shoot-outs, characters injured and killed Charaters in peril
  • Sexual references and brief sexual situation, bimbo behavior

What's the story?

In THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, Brian (Paul Walker) is a loner with a fancy racecar who wants to get into the hidden world of street racers. He also wants to get close Mia (Jordana Brewster), the pretty sister of the fastest driver of them all. The street racers take over a quarter mile stretch for races that last less than 10 seconds, then disperse before the police catch up with them. Brian challenges Mia's brother Dom (Vin Diesel) and loses both the race and his car to the jeers of the onlookers. But he rescues Dom from the police and sticks with him through an encounter with a rival gang. Soon, he is a member of Dom's rag-tag team of outcasts – mechanic Jesse (Chad Lindberg), brooding Vince (Matt Schulze), and tough girl Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). But after races and chases in various locales, it turns out that neither Dom nor Brian has been telling the truth and that both will have to put what they care about most on the line before it is all over.


Is it any good?

 

I don't ask for much from summer popcorn movies. Give me some car chases and explosions, some romance, and a nasty villain who meets a nastier end, and I'm happy. I had high hopes for The Fast and the Furious to be a classic of this genre, but it turned out to be a numbing waste of celluloid, a bad, bad movie that cannot even fake authenticity. It is not about what is cool or about what the people in the audience think is cool. It is about what people in Hollywood think that the people in the audience think is cool.

There is a lot of posing and attitude, and nearly every line is a cliché, spoken without any sense of irony, tribute, or transcendence. There is some flashy photography, a lot of blasting faux-hip rap music, very fine cars, and sprays of automatic weapon bullets that manage to miss all the main characters. The last fifteen minutes is genuinely, deeply, infuriatingly stupid. Diesel and Rodriguez are talented and watchable, but this movie insists on interfering with our ability to enjoy them.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about the way that even outcasts create families, as where Dom presides over a barbecue dinner that is like a cover illustration from Tatooed Biker done by Norman Rockwell. They even say grace. They could also talk about the people who do not tell each other the truth, and those who make the decision to violate the law to make things easier for themselves.


This review was written by Nell Minow
Teen, 16 years old
February 3, 2011
 
Movie shows excellent rendition of street racing, though filled with inappropiate content for younger eyes and ears.
People say this movie is crappy, well you gotta cut it a little slack because it was made way back in 2001. So maybe the action level and visual effects weren't enough for some... I though it was a very well made movie. The camera really captured the nitty gritty side of street racing. There is a lot of language and violence though (oil is poured into a man's mouth and a main character is trapped against a moving gas truck, which is shown in great and bloody detail) the n-word and other language is also used. The casting was great, especially Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, and the extremely beautiful Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto. The language, violence, poor choices, and flashy cars will not mix well with those under 14 years old.

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Teen, 16 years old
April 8, 2011
 
i rate this title IFFY for 13+
What to watch out for * Role models: Gangs mostly divide along racial lines, strong women characters but also many bimbos. * Violence: Chases, shoot-outs, characters injured and killed Charaters in peril * Sex: Sexual references and brief sexual situation, bimbo behavior * Language: Very strong language, including the n-word * Consumerism: Not an issue. * Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Characters drink and smoke

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
A great movie!
I love the car chases in this movie and the cars too! Paul Walker is really hot in this movie! Very entertaining!

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Adult
February 21, 2011
 
GREAT for a little mature 13 year old kid, but not much younger
This film is one of the fastest and adrenalin pumping movies i've seen. it features the story of a young cop going undercover to infiltrate the street racing environment and attempt to crack the case of a gang hijacking and robing trucks. the movie is a deep and action filled look into the street racing environment of the U.S. streets, and it shows more or less everything from this illegal culture. you see lots of high speed action in form of car chases, some of witch involves shooting. there is a scene where SWAT police force takes down several suspects with use of force and you will se hand to hand combat. also most of the lead characters are showed drinking at least once through out the movie, but they never get visible drunk. in addition to this there are an more or less explicit sex scene, many girls are shown in vulgar bikinis dancing and showing of their body, and some reference to sex but no direct nudity is ever shown. also the movie shows a brutal interrogation where a victim is being forced to give information, brutality used here are the interrogators sticks a oil pump in the victims mouth and pumps oil down his throat, but it appears in the movie not quite as violent as it may appear written. the conclusion is that it is a great movie if you are an a little mature 13 year old, but not very much younger than that. then again, age ratings are different from one individual to another. some people can se movies like this early, some must wait a while, and in most cases the person probably knows this best himself. so talk to your kid about how he or she feels about this, wether he/she has got a good line in between fiction and reality, if they feel they do, and they give you no reason to believe other wise, then by all means let them see this movie, because it is an adrenalin kick not to be missed.

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Kid, 12 years old
October 30, 2010
 
awsome!
awsome! a lot of bad stuff like 2 girls kiss long and they use both f words f**k u and fa**ot and the n word. they got the rating wrong. its pg-13 for violence, sexual content, and language. overall 1 of my fav movies!

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Teen, 17 years old
October 25, 2010
 
Anyone 11 or 12 or older should be able to handle it.
Nothing too bad. In terms of cinema, I liked it, but not as much as the newest one.

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Kid, 13 years old
August 20, 2010
 
Good movie
Iv'e seen all the fast and furious movies, and they all great, this one was kinda good with the beginning and middle but rubbish ending, i mean i thought it was gonna keep going before it ended, but still there all cool styles of movies together, cause i watched 'em one after another so thats cool. Not really suitable for kids but i watched it and im 12 so ... It did have bad swear words in at different times of the movie, thats for this one. It was kinda rude in parts with probably some refrence talk, and some positions people were in were kinda wrong but quick. There were obviously half-naked woman in it like every one. There was a part when a mans hand gets moved to a womans breast which was kinda wrong.

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Teen, 14 years old
August 18, 2010
 
I Don't Know What You Guys Are Talkng About but The Fast & The Furious Shouldnt be a bad movie and it doesnt have very strong language i think this movie is on the rating

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Kid, 13 years old
June 20, 2010
 
WTF COMMENSESNE
WTF COMMONSENSE THE MOVIE WUZ AWESOME

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Teen, 17 years old
March 23, 2010
 
good
ok so how can you think this is a bad movie. seriously? action packed series gives this movie quite an adrenaline rush

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This review was written by Nell Minow
Studio:Universal Pictures
Director:Rob Cohen
Cast:Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel
Genre:Thriller
Theatrical release date:June 22, 2001
DVD release date:June 3, 2003
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:violence, language, and brief sexuality

This review was written by Nell Minow
 

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ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
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GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
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