What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that young George watches his parents fight about money. His relationship with his mother remains difficult throughout the movie; she turns him in to the police and disowns him. His first girlfriend dies of cancer. George is heartbroken at the loss of his own daughter after he's sent to prison. Drug abuse leads George to a near-fatal collapse. Like Traffic, the movie's premise is that the drug trade is impossible to stop because of America's demand for drugs. Regular use of strong profanity. The movie is set at a time when cocaine use was widespread and held in some circles to be socially acceptable. Brief casual nudity in a poolside scene. Sexual excess of the disco era is alluded to but not seen. In one scene, George is brutally beaten by gunmen working for his former partner.
- Families can talk about the larger cultural issues associated with the importing of cocaine and marijuana.