Kickin' It Old Skool

“Kickin' it Old School” is about a young break dancer in the 1980’s who falls on his head and is injured so badly that he is in a coma for twenty years. Upon awakening, he discovers he is a 12-year-old in a 32-year-old body. He tries to pick up where he left off years earlier. When he finds out that his girlfriend is now engaged to his teen-aged rival, he tries to win her back by doing the only thing he knows—breakdancing.

Content:

The foul language in the movie is moderate, comparatively speaking. B__ch is used around 4 times, the s-word 2 times, the f-word 1 time. God’s name is taken in vain excessively, such as, oh, my God and Lord. Once out of anger, his mother shouts “Jesus Christ.”

Perhaps most surprising is that the n-word is used a lot, around 7 or 8 times. One of the most offensive things about the movie is that they are constantly making fun of various people groups. They disrespect Jews, mentally handicapped people, homeless people, Asians, Hispanics, and black people. This is not something that many Christians will want their kids to be exposed to.

Sexual content is minimal. One scene has him and his now-engaged-to-another-man ex-girlfriend doing some heavy kissing, and she opens up her shirt to let him fondle her. Nothing is shown, because the camera is behind her, but you definitely know what is happening. In one scene, his three friends are trying to teach him how to fondle a woman’s breasts. They put a bra on their friend and show him their different methods on how to disrespect women. There are also a lot of crude sexual references.

One thing in particular that could offend any decent father is the way his father conducts himself. When his son is in a coma, Dad is too eager to pull the plug on the life support system keeping his son alive. He makes jokes about it, and when they do cut it off, he puts his arm around his wife and then grabs her butt. Shortly after, the boy wakes up. The father cannot wait to make his weak son start doing the household chores again. No father I know would be so callous. It seems that Hollywood loves to make the dads in our society look like village idiots.

There are really no spiritual aspects to the movie. God or Jesus are not mentioned, except in vain (which is specifically forbidden in the Bible). The constant jokes about homeless people and handicapped people were uncalled for. The Bible commands us to show mercy to those less fortunate than us. “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other’” Zech 7:9-10. This movie definitely violates this mandate.

Personal Opinion:

Ultimately, this movie is about as ridiculous as they come. For me, it was about two hours of agony. I am not sure what age group they were targeting; I grew up in the 80s, and I did not enjoy the movie. Anyone younger will have no idea what is going on half the time. My recommendation: Do not waste your money at the theater now or the movie rental store later.

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.