Detroit Rock City

Rated for strong language, drug use and sex-related content.

Here's what we've heard about this film…

It's exactly the sort of movie KISS deserves fake and vulgar, pandering and gross… loud and stupid. …rowdy movie about sex, drugs and '70s rock “n” roll… contains nudity, violence, strong language, graphic vomiting…
—Stephen Whitty, Star-Ledger

Moral Rating:	Extremely Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Teen and Adult
Genre:	Comedy
Length:	1 hr. 35 min.
MPAA Rating:

(Starring: Edward Furlong, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Natasha Lyonne, Ace Frehley Directed by Adam Rifkin. Produced by Gene Simmons, Kathleen Haase, Barry Levine. Written by Carl Dupre. Distributed by New Line Cinema.)

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Year of Release—1999

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Language: Innumerable f-words, s-words, and lots of other profanity. Sex/Nudity: One lead character loses his virginity in a Catholic church; another character goes to—and participates in—a strip show at a bar; sexually explicity dialogue and sex with a prostitute are also included.

Spiritual content: All the Christians in this film are portrayed in extremely negative light. A Christian parent is portrayed as hypocritical, heartless, unreasonable, and stupid. A Catholic priest is shown getting duped into eating a pizza with hallucinogenic mushrooms on it, and then he gets high and becomes ridiculously silly and sacrilegious. Another priest, in a confessional booth, is apparently turned on and excited by a fictitious story of erotic character. A convention of Christian mothers is ridiculed and mocked relentlessly.

Drug/Alcohol content: Almost constant drug and alcohol use by the 4 teenage characters with no apparent negative consequences.

Violence: Several instances of people getting beaten up; one scene in which a character gets his face rubbed HARD across a pizza-covered windshield. Another character is beaten to unconsciousness.

Other negative elements: one particularly gross scene, in which graphic vomiting is shown; a KISS concert shows the lead singer spewing blood; disrespect of parents, teachers, Christians, and authority figures is promoted and glorified; deceit, disobedience, violence, and irresponsibility are rewarded; songs on soundtrack are satanically themed.

Positive elements: When one boy needs to find money for tickets, he considers robbing a store, but at the last minute changes his mind when his conscience (in the form of his friends coming to his imagination) bothers him. In the end, he saves the store clerk from another armed robber. Another boy saves a girl from being raped by two ruffians. It had its funny moments, but it was poor quality, unrealistic, and degrading. My Ratings: [1/1½]
—Kayla, age 18