Dove Review

“Acceptance” focuses a lot on students who are trying to get accepted to the Ivy League colleges their parents want them to attend, but the movie is also about being accepted for who a person is. And that person can be successful without attending Harvard or Yale.

Taylor Rockefeller, “not related to the famous ones,” lives in a home in which her mother (Joan Cusack) demands an Ivy League future and in which her mother and father argue a lot. Taylor, a kind girl, has a problem: she cuts herself with scissors and still has feelings for a boy named Harry, though they are no longer seeing each other. Harry only has eyes for Harvard, but can’t seem to totally ignore Taylor anytime she wanders by. Taylor’s friend Maya has strict parents who want her to go to an Ivy League college as well, but her aspirations are a bit different than theirs.

The plot focuses on Taylor and her mother, Harry and his mother, and Maya and her relationship with Taylor. Just when it seems like hope is lost for all three characters, they find that although life takes them on a few paths they wouldn’t have thought, things turn out pretty well. Even Taylor’s dad says to her mom, “We’ve got to stop arguing,” and she replies, “Yes, okay, let’s do that.” We are recommending the movie for ages 12+ due to a few sophisticated themes and a few comments about sex. A couple having an affair stops when the woman realizes it is wrong.

The movie has a lot to say about success, and that success is not necessarily a trip to an Ivy League college. It also makes a statement about accepting one’s level of abilities as they are, not comparing them to someone else. Enjoy “Acceptance!”

Dove Rating Details

0

Faith

None

0

Integrity

Girl cuts herself using scissors because she hates her life, but she gets therapy and stops it and although some blood is shown it is not gratuitous; someone makes reference to a girl being "cuckoo."

2

Sex

Married man and single woman at a college are having an affair and he talks frankly to her about having sex and kisses her but she stops the relationship later on, realizing it is wrong; young couple are shown kissing and petting in a flashback, but the movie makes it clear it went no further; student looks up to her high school teacher and he seems to like her but he does nothing wrong; girl's mother is concerned her daughter and a boy are "having sex" as she says, but they are not.

2

Language

G/OMG-8; For G's sake-1; H-1; BS (the initials are spoken)-1; a couple of "you're really screwed" comments about life going wrong.

1

Violence

Girl cuts herself using scissors because she hates her life, but she gets therapy and stops it and although some blood is shown it is not gratuitous; someone makes reference to a girl being "cuckoo."

2

Drugs

Woman drinks vodka and takes prescription medicine and later her husband gets on her for "popping pills and drinking;" man seen drinking and he is drunk; character says, "I need a drink;" woman seems to be inebriated.

2

Nudity

Girls seen in swimwear; strong cleavage in one scene; cleavage seen in a few other scenes.

2

Other

Girl steals mail and says she has no other vices, but she makes restitution later on; tension and arguing between a few characters including husband and wife; girl says she wants to go to a certain college or she will "go postal," but she realizes later that she shouldn't have said that; girl gets a bit disrespectful with her mother and father but develops a close relationship with them later on; college president says to send the applications to the "right zip codes" and an angry man asks, "Does God play God with zip codes?" Someone makes a reference to a girl being "cuckoo."