Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Selfish man finds redemption writing advice; language, sex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Good Advice
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In GOOD ADVICE, Ryan (Charlie Sheen) is a successful, hustling stockbroker who is making millions. He struts around, exuding what he thinks is charm, supposedly catnip to women. He is sleeping with newspaper mogul Donald Simpson's (Barry Newman) wife, despite having a girlfriend Cindy (Denise Richards) on the side. Soon Ryan loses his fortune, his fancy apartment, and his job. Cindy, an incompetent advice columnist for a dying newspaper, leaves Ryan for a Brazilian jetsetter. Without a source of income, Ryan persuades Cindy's stony editor Page (Angie Harmon) to let Cindy email in her columns so that he can write them himself and take payment for the work. At first, his cynical self-absorption produces callous advice: "The best way to get over a man is to get under a new one." But far more empathetic friends help him, reminding him that real people with real problems read what he writes and may actually take his advice. Can Ryan change his ways?
Is It Any Good?
Good Advice is a snarky, retro romantic comedy that will never be mistaken for a good movie. It's too simplistic, often descending into preachy when it isn't downright icky. The script has a few clever lines, but the overriding theme is a belief that the world is divided into distinctly good and distinctly bad halves. Disloyal, unnecessarily cruel, condescending, and shallow Ryan is a wealthy man just waiting to be taken down. His nemesis Donald is an even wealthier and crueler mogul. It's precisely that man's ruthlessness that helps Ryan, broke and jobless, remake himself into the de-macho-ed Mr. Sensitivity—a far better man.
That new man is supposed to be good enough to attract Page, but the chemistry between the brash Sheen and the sensible Harmon never feels believable. The newly nice Ryan is nevertheless allowed to retain at least one negative trait—a lust for vengeance—and he indulges it to bring down Donald, puffed up enough to earn his deflation. But don't worry. If the movie's logic follows, eventually the destroyed Donald will also, one day when he sees the error of his ways, emerge from his shame a better man.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how unnecessarily mean Ryan is before his transformation. Does his penchant for insults make it seem less plausible that he can become a decent, caring person just by writing an advice column?
The plastic surgeon keeps saying husbands leave wives whose buttocks sag and that he can give women new butts. Also, major surgery is represented as something that people recover from immediately. Is the movie mocking plastic surgery? How do you feel about it?
Ryan seems to be out for himself. He has an affair with a woman whose husband can be helpful to him in business. He cheats on his girlfriend. Do you believe that he can turn into a good, loyal romantic partner? Why or why not?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : September 6, 2001
- Cast : Charlie Sheen , Angie Harmon , Denise Richards
- Director : Steve Rash
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Comedy
- Topics : Friendship
- Run time : 93 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : language and sexual content
- Last updated : September 6, 2025
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