Preteen girl looking at a cell phone with her parents

Family movie night? There's an app for that

Download our new mobile app on iOS and Android.

Parents' Guide to

Dutch

By Heather Boerner, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Coarse tale of family and Thanksgiving for teens.

Movie PG-13 1991 108 minutes
Dutch Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 11+

Based on 4 parent reviews

age 12+

oh Ed

Ed O Neil is funny gosh this was a good movie.
age 12+

funny movie.

when I watched this movie I laughed cause its funny. its not a movie for young kids. but 12 and up its fine and funny.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (3 ):

DUTCH is an argument for the strong male role model in a boy's life, even if that role model is a swearing, cigar-smoking parental figure who turns borderline abusive as a kind of reverse psychology. The trouble with this movie is that it's trying to be both a family-values film and a teen version of A Christmas Carol. Doyle learns to respect people who have less money than he does, but the whose-is-bigger posturing between a grown man (Dutch) and a young boy (Doyle) is ridiculous. And the only women in the film are ditsy waitresses, prostitutes, and a completely ineffectual mother.

In fact, the most interesting part of the film is how Natalie's helplessness is a prerequisite for Doyle to play the big, strong man. If Natalie would just stand up to her son and tell him to can the insults, Dutch wouldn't need to be the knight in shining armor. Unwittingly, Dutch teaches teens a little something about gender roles and how you can't have one without the other.

Movie Details

Inclusion information powered by

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate