Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

Flirting with Disaster

By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Dark comedy about family includes some sexy stuff and drugs.

Movie R 2004 92 minutes
Flirting with Disaster Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

FLIRTING WITH DISASTER is madcap, wacky, and very funny. The characters come close to the line of caricature but don't step over it, and the supporting cast, including Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda as Mel's birth parents, and Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal as his adoptive ones, is outstanding. Everyone here feels like a real person who happens to end up in a series of very weird and very entertaining situations, including: a truck collision involving a pair of anti-Semites, an Indian-wrestling incident in the home of a Ronald Reagan supporter who (briefly) is convinced she's Mel's mom, a lover's spat between two men who aren't sure they want to be parents together, a series of potential extra-marital encounters that seem triggered more by ennui than attraction, and an unexpected LSD trip.

After all the shenanigans, what we are left with is simply this: making your own family, and keeping it together, is more important than any link that is just genetics. That, and pay attention to what you eat when the chef is also a slightly unhinged drug manufacturer with sibling rivalry issues.

Movie Details

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