ON THE ROCKS

Name: ON THE ROCKS
Item: ON THE ROCKS
Author: Tess Farrand

"Indie Bill Murray Comedy Drama Marred by Some Negative Content"

Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

ON THE ROCKS is a comical drama playing in some theaters and streaming on Apple TV Plus [TV+]. After a wedding, the movie cuts to years later with the couple living in New York City with their two daughters. Dean, the husband, has a high-profile tech job that’s booming. Meanwhile, Dean’s wife, Laura, struggles to keep all her ducks in a row, from being a wife and mother to being a professional writer. There’s an obvious strain in her marriage. Laura suspects Dean might be unfaithful. Her quirky, chauvinistic father joins to help her uncover the truth.

ON THE ROCKS is an entertaining, well-directed comedy drama with good performances, including by Bill Murray, who plays the quirky father. At the heart of the movie, family, pursuing the truth and fidelity, reign supreme. However, one scene implies that two women are physically involved. Also, some of Bill Murray’s dry humor includes worldview comments. For instance, he makes a comment about how women have “evolved” physically. ON THE ROCKS has some foul language and dialogue about illicit affairs. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Content:

(BB, Ev, Pa, C, Ho, LL, S, NN, A, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong morality where characters pursue the truth, several “I love yous” are sprinkled throughout the movie, and marital faithfulness ultimately reigns supreme, marred by some negative content such as female protagonist’s quirky father makes a humorous comment about how women have physically evolved, father mentions how birthdays were originally a pagan holiday that Christians didn’t celebrate, it’s implied in one scene that two women are physically involved with one another

Foul Language:

Eight obscenities (including three “f” words) and nine profanities (including one Jesus profanity)

Violence:

No violence

Sex:

Implied sex between a newlywed couple with their undergarments depicted on the floor, a minor character has an affair with a married man, there’s mention of a cult in Canada where women seduce men sexually, and a brief homosexual element (see above)

Nudity:

Some statues with upper female nudity are shown, upper male nudity in two scenes with a pool, and one other where a man crawls into bed, girl takes a bath but viewers don’t see any private parts, a mother takes a shower, but there’s only implied nudity, newly married wife jumps into a pool with only her underwear, but there’s no explicit nudity

Alcohol Use:

Social alcohol use

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or illegal drug content, but mention of a character taking Xanax; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Lying, suspicions of marital unfaithfulness, smooth-talking one’s way out of a traffic ticket, and father fakes that he’s kissing his daughter to get out of a sticky situation by getting really close to her, but she scolds him for his trickery.

More Detail:

ON THE ROCKS is a comical drama playing in some theaters and on Apple TV Plus [TV+] about a married woman who has a hunch her husband may be cheating on her, so she gets help from her chauvinistic father to uncover the truth. ON THE ROCKS is an entertaining comedy drama extolling family, pursuing the truth and marital fidelity, but it has some foul language, dialogue about marital infidelity, a comment about evolution, and two minor homosexual characters in one scene, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

ON THE ROCKS begins with a wedding. Cut to some years later, the newlywed couple from moments earlier now lives in New York City with their two daughters. Dean, the husband, has a high-profile tech job that’s booming. Meanwhile, Dean’s wife, Laura, struggles to keep all her ducks in a row, from being a wife and mother to being a professional writer. There’s also an obvious strain in Dean and Laura’s marriage. For instance, one night, Dean comes home from a business and kisses his wife, only to be surprised it’s her when he opens his eyes.

Could Dean be cheating on Laura?

To elevate Laura’s curiosity about Dean’s potential unfaithfulness, Laura finds a woman’s body oil in his suitcase while unpacking it after his trip. When she confronts him, he counters that it’s his coworker, Fiona’s oil, who couldn’t fit the cosmetic bag into her carryon luggage. Laura has the pleasure of meeting Fiona at Dean’s office party, and it’s clear that she feels out of place.

Meanwhile, Laura’s father, Felix, is a cavalier “cool guy” who mirrors Ryan Gosling’s character in CRAZY STUPID LOVE. He’s a smooth talker and an obnoxious flirt who’s never met a stranger. However, this comes in handy for Laura when she confides about her marriage to him. Felix, ever the skeptic of men like himself, believes Dean is probably cheating on his daughter, despite their years of marriage. The two stake out Dean and his coworkers at a club. Then, when Laura’s birthday celebration goes sideways at a dinner with Dean, Felix convinces Laura to follow Dean to Mexico, where he’s supposedly on yet another “business trip.”

What will Felix and Laura uncover?

ON THE ROCKS’s script has a similar tone to some of Writer/Director Sophia Coppola’s other movies, especially LOST IN TRANSLATION, which also stars Bill Murray. Admirers of Murray admirers will relish his character’s quirks as well as the authenticity he brings to the movie as a father. Rashida Jones and Marlon Wayans give solid performances too. Overall, ON THE ROCKS serves as a good example of well-directed and well-acted indie-type entertainment.

ON THE ROCKS has a strong moral worldview, but it’s marred by some immoral, negative elements. At the heart of the movie, family, pursuing the truth and marital fidelity, reign supreme. However, one scene implies that two women are physically involved. Also, some of Bill Murray’s dry humor includes some worldview comments. For instance, he makes a comment about how women have physically evolved and mentions how birthdays were originally a pagan holiday that Christians didn’t celebrate. ON THE ROCKS also has some foul language and dialogue about illicit affairs. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.