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Entertainment Media Analysis Report

MAR01199
Message in a Bottle (1999), PG-13
CAP Score: 61, CAP ID: 0.70

Thomas A. Carder
CAP President

Executive Summary / Commentary
Findings / Scoring
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:

"Message in a Bottle" -- a good message on the state of sexual freedom. Everything about this movie portrayed that it is quite okay for an unmarried woman to sleep with, have intercourse with, and seek out sex with an unmarried man. Well, why not? We have a president, though married, who has had sex with an unmarried girl. I'll tell you why not. God says it is wrong!

"Message in a Bottle" could have been a nice and warm, tender love-tragedy story if the producers would have kept all the junk out of it. This movie was a perfect template for this truth. Not in one case did any of the language, sex, and other ignominy support or enhance the script or choreography -- IT WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS GOOD WITHOUT IT! (Actually, even better, all the way up to `great.') It was a well planned and choreographed movie with a strong script and story line. The comedy aspects of this romance/tragedy genre was well arranged. The romance/tragedy aspects made this movie a tear-jerker for most. But the ignominy destroyed a great deal of the value of it.

Sexual intercourse was there, though it was masked. The three/four letter word vocabulary was well represented. God's name in vain was not left out, either. If there was nudity it was so well masked and shadowed that it was difficult to tell. There was no doubt, however, what the two [nude?] figures were doing -- no doubt at all.




FINDINGS / SCORING: Message in a Bottle (1999) CAP Thermometers

Wanton Violence/Crime (W) lost no intermediate nor maximum level points.

Impudence/Hate (I)(1) lost no intermediate nor maximum level points.

Sex/Homosexuality (S) lost intermediate level points twice due to an unmarried couple sleeping together with inappropriate touching (ostensibly for sex), and once due to a long sequence of masked sexual intercourse with inappropriate touching.

Drugs/Alcohol (D) lost intermediate level points once due to intoxication but lost no maximum level points.

Offense to God (O)(2) lost intermediate level points once due to the use of Jesus' full name name in vain. Offense to God lost the maximum level points four times due to the use of God's name in vain with the four letter expletive.

Murder/Suicide (M)(3) lost no intermediate nor maximum level points.

Other examples of entertainment ignominy, each warranting the loss of the minimum point level, included

  • 23 uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary
  • 14 uses of God's name in vain without the four letter expletive
  • sexual innuendo and comments
  • "Waiting for God to take it [mistake] back" -- God does not make mistakes
  • "So much strength that even God could not pull you away"
  • bathrobe in public
  • hiding facts to gain advantage (lies)
  • the use of "small lies" to build a conversation
  • fist fight
  • camera angle forcing viewer to private region of the body
  • at least 10 presentations of alcoholic beverages
  • a woman sleeping at a man's house and sleeping in bed with him ostensibly for intercourse
  • open-face kissing
  • planning a sexual encounter
  • arrogance toward a boss's fair and reasonable authority
  • a woman undressing to the underwear in front of a man
  • glorification of lies for the sake of love
  • two deaths at sea
  • sea storm terror
  • arrogance against a father


    (1) As noted in CAP Special Report-001, "Investigation Area and Scoring Trend," of the six CAP Investigation Areas, Impudence/Hate was the strongest presence in all four movie classifications. It has a strong revelation about the entertainment media.

    (2) The use of the three/four letter word vocabulary without God's name is incorporated into the Impudence/Hate Investigation Area. The use of God's name with or without the three/four letter word vocabulary is incorporated into the Offense to God Investigation Area. There is no duplication. As required of the Holy Scriptures, unless God's name is used with reverence to His glory and praise, its use is considered in vain, whether literal or euphemistic.

    (3) Only portrayal of successful murder or suicide are incorporated into Murder/Suicide. Presentation of attempts to commit murder or suicide and deaths by police action or war are incorporated into Wanton Violence/Crime.



    Additional reviews of this movie may be located at "Movie Review Query Engine at Telerama."




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    In the name of Jesus:
    Lord, Master, Teacher, Savior, God.

    Thomas A. Carder
    President
    ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)

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