Not Approved

The Counselor

Legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott and Pulitzer Prize winning author Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) have joined forces in the motion picture thriller THE COUNSELOR, starring Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt. McCarthy, making his screenwriting debut and Scott interweave the author's characteristic wit and dark humor with a nightmarish scenario, in which a respected lawyer's one-time dalliance with an illegal business deal spirals out of control.
22
Negative Rating
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SexLanguageViolenceDrugsNudityOther
0
Positive Rating
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FaithIntegrity

Dove Review

This is a movie with big name stars but even so it manages to be plodding and dull and it unfortunately doesn’t come close to being family friendly. It involves a man known as the Counselor (Michael Fassbender), a lawyer, who definitely has two sides to him. He is sensitive and caring toward his fiancé (Penelope Cruz) but becomes involved with shady characters (one played by Brad Pitt) and a drug deal, apparently to support his lavish lifestyle. The movie is over the top with strong language and in one violent scene a wire is drawn in a deserted area to nail a motorcycle rider and he winds up losing his head with some spurting blood when the moment occurs. One character (played by Cameron Diaz) is obsessed with sex and even attempts to have sex with a car! One couple left the theater early at the screening I attended and I am not sure if it is because they were bored or hated the content or both.

At any rate, we are unable to award this movie our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal.

Dove Rating Details

0
Faith

None

0
Integrity

Shootings with blood; chases; a motorcycle rider runs into a wire and loses his head with spraying blood seen; shooting with a character seen with bloody hole in head; a woman is forced into a van; several violent moments including a dead woman's body being dumped into a landfill.

4
Sex

An unmarried couple have sex and there is sexual language and innuendos and groans; implied oral sex; a woman says she is going to have sex with her boyfriend's car and in an unusual scene does so by gyrating on the windshield; a woman that is not Catholic goes to a priest to confess sexual sins and wants to engage him in the conversation but he walks out.

5
Language

A lot of language including the use of J and "Chr*st" several times and the F bomb and a lot of other obscenities.

4
Violence

Shootings with blood; chases; a motorcycle rider runs into a wire and loses his head with spraying blood seen; shooting with a character seen with bloody hole in head; a woman is forced into a van; several violent moments including a dead woman's body being dumped into a landfill.

4
Drugs

Drug deal involving cocaine and packets of cocaine are seen; several drinking scenes and smoking scenes; a man blows marijuana smoke into face of his dog.

2
Nudity

Partial rear nudity as a woman mounts a car; cleavage; women in towels and their bare shoulders, legs and cleavage is seen; women in bikinis and swimwear; shirtless men in swimwear.

3
Other

Raw sewage is seen poured into tank; disrespect toward characters; a few jump scenes; lavish lifestyles and doing whatever is necessary to maintain it, even illicit drug deals.

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