 | 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. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Real Cancun
- Review Date: July 7, 2003
- R
- Genre: Documentary
- 2003
Common Sense Media says
Terrible, explicit movie -- beware!
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie has an alcohol-content level high enough to make the audience feel drunk. Characters rely heavily upon alcohol, with several people doing things while under the influence that they clearly wouldn't do under other circumstances. The movie does not show what must have been the other effects of all that drinking, skipping the vomiting and hangovers for the more voyeur-friendly hooking-up and suggestive dancing. Sex is a major theme of this movie, and the camera follows several couples into the bedroom to record their activities. While many movies have explicit scenes of couples who are acting, a notable line is crossed here, where the audience is watching actual intercourse, albeit thinly veiled under a blanket.
What's the story?
As with its Real World series, MTV's THE REAL CANCUN involves filming "real" people -meaning attractive, insecure youths, not actors-in everyday situations such as tropical locations where they are forced to interact with carefully selected roommates and the resulting antics are craftily edited for greatest effect. In this case, the cushy location is a color-saturated, beach-front hotel, sporting the most tolerant of cleaning staffs, and the lovely, young strangers are filmed in almost every aspect of their lives (bathrooms are thankfully off limits but everything else is pretty much laid out) for the duration of their showy but finally forgettable spring break. Days of non-stop filming are reduced to a handful of vignettes about who is going to sleep with whom. If there is a main character, it is the geeky, sober Alan who -- thanks to peer pressure -- finds booze and then a girlfriend, as he takes on a new, more confident personality like a modern day Sandra Dee transforming from bobby socks to black leather at the end of Grease.
Is it any good?
This is not your parents' spring break. The bands on stage are singing lyrics explicit to a different order of magnitude than those of the Beach Boys. However, as with any ode to spring break, certain features seem timeless, including the boozy fumes and the fog of pheromones that float down from the screen in a palpable haze. Even for the genre, The Real Cancun seems as thin as the bikini straps worn by sunburned girls, an unreal little peep show which will leave some viewers with hangovers and others with a longing for the responsibility-free days of young adulthood. While there is quite a bit of raw, often unintentional, humor in laughing at their antics, the hangover of the movie comes from the sour aftertaste of watching people getting genuinely hurt by one another.
In this place where belly buttons are the shot glasses of choice and it is usually enough to know someone's first name before having sex, this movie reminds everyone over the age of 24 that they are no longer invited to the party, but that it is the same party that has existed since the invention of the teenager. Ninety minutes of partying with these 16 college-age kids will be enough to send most parents home with a hangover and a strong desire to send their kids to labor in the fields during all future spring breaks.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about why peer pressure can be an influence on an individual no matter what age they are. Also, they might discuss how insecurities often make us act in a way that overcompensates for a weakness that we see in ourselves. Some of the individuals in this movie are callow, selfish and superficial, hurting those around them while preying on the insecurities of others. Who are the people in this movie who seem to be happy with themselves? Which people make choices that you respect?
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AGE
They call this a documentery, I call this crap.
This movie is too explict with sex and drinking. Oh, where should I begin...? Ah! First there's too much masturbation, privates parts include penises, vaginas, butt sex, and oral sex and sometimes it happens after they drink. Can MTV get worse? After I saw this "documentery", I knew it wasa load of s**t.
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| Studio: | New Line |
| Director: | Rick de Oliveira |
| Cast: | Benjamin Fletcher, Brittany Brown-Hart, Nicole Frilot |
| Genre: | Documentary |
| Run time: | 90 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | April 25, 2003 |
| DVD release date: | July 1, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | strong sexuality/nudity, language and partying |
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