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Parents' Guide to

2 Days in the Valley

By Andrea Beach, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Flawed crime comedy pairs sex with violence.

Movie R 1996 104 minutes
2 Days in the Valley Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

age 15+

ditto

26 F words. We see an erection tent under a towel as a man gets a massage. A legnthy scene of foreplay with womans breasts visible throughout including a close up of an ice cube on one of her nipples. A man pushes himself sexually on a resistant woman (he is stopped) . A photo of a topless woman woth a bloody wound on her side (this turns out to be fake). Aftermath of a shooting leaves a bloody pillow and a womans arm covered in blood. A man shot in leg, some blood. A woman shot in head, no blood. A man shotbin chest, see bloodstain grow on his shirt and a bit on a wall. A woman is shot in her side. We see her in multiple scenes with this untreated wound and there is alot of blood (think Drakes wound in beginning of Uncharted 2). Never boring or bad, yet none of the characters or conflicts are built up and fleshed out enough for the drama or the conclusions to have impact. A couple are completely pointless, like the Racist guy. Shame cuz these characters couldve been very interesting. Also the setting brought up in the title doesnt feel fleshed out either. This couldve taken place anywhere. Its just a breezy pulpy ride that wouldve benefited from a better writter.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Despite a strong cast and easy-to-follow weaving together of characters, director John Herzfeld doesn't hone in on anything enough for it to be a success as a spoof or as a straight-up crime thriller. 2 Days in the Valley seems to have trouble deciding which it wants to be and ends up being not quite enough of either. Too many of the scenes played for comedy fall flat, so that it works a little bit better as a straight-up crime thriller. The strong cast is good, but a lot of the appearances will resonate more with parents and grandparents than with kids (Eric Stoltz, Keith Carradine, Marsha Mason). That, and the pairing of sex and violence in several scenes, means it's not a good choice for family viewing, but adults in the mood for a crime thriller with a few chuckles here and there may enjoy it.

Movie Details

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