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St. Trinian's

(2009, Rated PG-13, Comedy, Starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Lena Headey)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 12, age appropriate for kids over 15; suggested age 13.

  • Is it any good?

    3.0

  • Common Sense says

    Quirky British boarding-school comedy has iffy messages.

Themes in this movie include:   friendship, growing up, peer pressure

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 13–15

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Yes, the girls band together to keep their school from closing, but they all engage in preposterously inappropriate behavior -- like selling black-market vodka and brainstorming criminal acts like credit card fraud, robbery, kindapping, etc. It's obviously for laughs, but it's fairly consequence-free negative behavior nonetheless.

  • Role models :

    There aren't many positive role models in the movie, considering that the girls engage in illegal schemes and the teachers spend most of their time drunk or not paying attention to the girls, who pretty much do whatever they want at the school. In one sequence, the girls initiate a new student by videotaping her in the shower and uploading the video to the Web.

  • Violence:

    At the "worst school in Britain," girls are held by their ankles over stair rails, dragged around by farm equipment, etc. The younger girls make bombs for an elaborate heist that the students have concocted to steal a Vermeer painting. The phys ed skills include target shooting with semi-automatic weapons.

  • Sex:

    The school's "Posh Toddy" clique is overtly sexually aggressive, with the girls walking around in skimpy lingerie. The headmistress and the minister kiss and make love -- it's not graphic, but you do see his naked rear end.

  • Language:

    Mostly insults (some are British slang) like "silly cow," "whore," "shut up," "bloody hell," "toddy," and "Pikey."

  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    All the teachers drink cocktails every day, and a couple are especially drunk. The first years (11-year-olds) run a black market vodka distillery out of the school.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About St. Trinian's

Parents need to know that this British boarding-school comedy will probably appeal most to teens who enjoy quirky and/or independent films -- though they won't find any positive role models or messages here. Although it's all played for laughs, the students engage in inappropriate behavior like selling black-market goods (including vodka) and coming up with illegal ways to save their school from ruin. There's also some salty language (though "hell" and "whore" are probably the worst of it), moderate sexuality (girls walk around in lingerie, and there's a brief glimpse of an adult man's naked bum), and a fair amount of drinking among the faculty.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the way British high school culture is depicted in the movie. Are there similar social castes and cliques in American high schools?
  • Boarding schools are a much bigger part of British society than American society. How are boarding schools depicted in most American movies?
  • Although the movie is a comedy, there are a lot of outlandishly negative messages about teenage behavior. What would the consequences of this kind of behavior (drinking, sexuality, etc.) be in real life?
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