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THE NIGHT LISTENER

What You Need To Know:

THE NIGHT LISTENER is a fictionalized account of a real-life situation. The movie stars Robin Williams as Gabriel Noone, a colorful middle-aged public radio storyteller in San Francisco whose younger homosexual lover of 10 years has left him. A publisher invites Gabriel to read a manuscript by a 14-year-old boy named Pete. Pete's parents and their friends belonged to a sex cult that abused Pete as a child, giving Pete AIDS, and Pete's female social worker, Donna, has adopted him. Gabriel is touched by the boy's sad story and begins long-distance phone relationship with Pete and Donna. One day, after months of camaraderie, Gabriel's ex-partner asks Gabriel if he's ever noticed how similar Pete and Donna's voices are. Gabriel begins to wonder if Pete is really Donna. He decides to find out.

Despite its homosexual themes, THE NIGHT LISTENER delivers an important warning to everyone: Don't let other people, including the news media and politicians, take advantage of your emotions and preconceived notions. Some of the movie's homosexual references, however, are extremely crude and excessive, and have a slight politically correct ideology, though political correctness is not a primary focus.

Content:

(H, HoHoHo, PC, Ro, B, LLL, V, SS, NN, A, D, MM) Light humanist worldview with very strong homosexual references, but only light political correctness that mostly seems to be implied, plus protagonist's Romantic notions are undercut by the story and some moral elements; 38 obscenities, including many "f" words and a couple extremely crude references to homosexual sex, five strong profanities and two light profanities; light menacing violence such as character tries to keep another character in the middle of the road with a big truck barreling down on them, man breaks window to enter house and man roughed up by police a little; implied orgy and pedophilia with upper female nudity and rear nudity, many non-sexual homosexual references, some sexual homosexual references, including a couple crude ones, and men kiss; brief upper female nudity in two scenes and some rear nudity; alcohol use; smoking; and, strong miscellaneous immorality such as lying, deceit and man breaks into house.

More Detail:

The protagonist in THE NIGHT LISTENER is a homosexual, but the movie deals with issues that affect everyone. The movie has, however, some explicit, gratuitous sexual language and other obscenities that are excessive.

Based on an acclaimed novel by a homosexual author, THE NIGHT LISTENER is a fictionalized account of a real-life situation. The movie stars Robin Williams as Gabriel Noone, a colorful middle-aged public radio storyteller in San Francisco whose much younger homosexual lover of several years has left him. A publisher invites Gabriel to read a manuscript by a 14-year-old boy named Pete. According to the book, Pete’s parents and their friends belonged to a sex cult that abused Pete as a child, giving Pete AIDS, and Pete’s female social worker, Donna, has adopted him.

Gabriel is touched by the boy’s sad story and begins an extended long-distance phone relationship with Pete and Donna. One day, after months of camaraderie, Gabriel’s ex-partner, Jess, asks Gabriel if he’s ever noticed how similar Pete and Donna’s voices are. Gabriel begins to wonder if Pete is really Donna. He decides to track them down and find out for himself.

Despite the homosexual themes in THE NIGHT LISTENER, the movie delivers an important warning to everyone: Don’t let other people, including the news media and politicians, take advantage of your emotions and preconceived notions. The movie also warns people about letting their desires and emotions blind them to reality.

Years ago, there was a woman in the Christian community who alleged that she belonged to a satanic cult that murdered babies in satanic rituals. Around the same time, there was a man in the Christian community who alleged that he used to belong to a witchcraft cult that tried to seduce people into witchcraft. The stories of these two people did not check out when investigated, yet many Christians still believe their phony stories. And, of course, today there are many alleged journalists and politicians who play on people’s sympathies to get them to support ill-conceived, dangerous laws and massive government programs to help the homeless, send gobs of money to failed public schools, bring all American soldiers home from Iraq immediately, focus on one politically correct disease at the expense of other diseases that kill far more people, and protect homosexuals and “transgender” people from terrible “hate crimes.” All of these examples show that we all need to apply a healthy dose of skepticism to any sensational, emotional story that fits easily into our ideology, theology, worldview, or most cherished notions.

THE NIGHT LISTENER is a well-produced cautionary tale with an important message. It does, however, have many references to the protagonist’s homosexuality. Some of those references are extremely crude and excessive, and have a slight politically correct ideology, though political correctness is not a primary focus in the movie.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.