The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

Screen It! is not attempting to rate the movie as good or bad but to give parents the tools to decide whether it's appropriate for their kids.

This movie has been screened for objectional content in 15 areas. Click for a detailed look.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated romantic drama. We see several brief views (either passing by, from a distance or partially in shadows) of the lead characters having sex, including nudity (female bare breasts, male bare butt). Other nonsexual nudity occurs, including a woman's bare breasts as well as that same woman wearing a sheer and partially see-through dress (partial views of breasts and butt). Profanity is heavy due to 4 uses of the "f" word, along with some other profanities and phrases. Bad attitudes consist of a billionaire who steals artwork and tries to manipulate others, along with an investigator who sleeps with the suspect or breaks into his home trying to prove his guilt. Beyond some brief smoking, greater amounts of drinking and some brief, limited, violence, the rest of the film is relatively void of any other major objectionable content. Nonetheless, and should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home, we suggest taking a closer look at the listed content.

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: After a valuable piece of artwork is stolen from a museum, a savvy and glamorous insurance investigator tries to prove that a billionaire playboy has stolen it.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Older teens and those who are fans of someone in the cast might want to, but it's doubtful this film will be high on most other kids "must see" lists.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For some sexuality and language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: PIERCE BROSNAN plays a billionaire playboy who steals a valuable painting not because of its worth, but due to the challenge of doing so. Along the way he has sex with Catherine while eluding her queries about whether he really stole the Monet.
RENEE RUSSO plays an initially aloof insurance investigator who will do whatever it takes--including sleeping with the suspect and breaking into the billionaire's home--to prove that Crown stole the artwork.
DENIS LEARY plays the local police detective who doesn't approve of Catherine's investigatory methods and occasionally uses strong profanity.
FAYE DUNAWAY plays Crown's psychiatrist who appears in a few brief scenes.; RENEE RUSSO plays an initially aloof insurance investigator who will do whatever it takes--including sleeping with the suspect and breaking into the billionaire's home--to prove that Crown stole the artwork.
DENIS LEARY plays the local police detective who doesn't approve of Catherine's investigatory methods and occasionally uses strong profanity.
FAYE DUNAWAY plays Crown's psychiatrist who appears in a few brief scenes.; DENIS LEARY plays the local police detective who doesn't approve of Catherine's investigatory methods and occasionally uses strong profanity.
FAYE DUNAWAY plays Crown's psychiatrist who appears in a few brief scenes.; FAYE DUNAWAY plays Crown's psychiatrist who appears in a few brief scenes.

DETAILED CONTENT LISTING:
Click on a category for specific details or scroll through the page for a broader overview.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: MODERATE (Return to Summary Chart): Crown has a glass of wine.
People have champagne at a fund raiser/art donation. Later, Catherine orders vodka while Crown has Scotch at a reception.
At a restaurant, Crown orders Scotch for himself and champagne for Catherine (while others also drink). He then orders a bottle of wine for some police officers who've been trailing him.
McCann drinks beer.
People have drinks at a dance.
As Catherine and Crown playfully fool around/have sex, we see her pouring liquor from a bottle on him.
Crown walks out pouring some sort of liquor into a glass.
Catherine and Crown have wine with dinner and he then goes off to get another bottle.
As Catherine and Crown lie in bed together, he has a drink.
McCann tells a story that in the past his girlfriend got drunk, stayed out all night and was married to someone else the next morning.
Catherine has a glass of wine or champagne on a plane, but doesn't drink it.

BLOOD/GORE: NONE (Return to Summary Chart): None.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: MODERATE (Return to Summary Chart): Crown enjoys stealing artwork as well as manipulating people, but does so just as a challenge or game. He also offers Catherine twice the money she's making as an insurance investigator to quit and run off with him.
A small team of thieves tries to steal artwork from the museum.
Catherine sleeps with Crown and steals his keys, makes copies of them, and then illegally enters his house, all in an effort to prove that he stole the Monet.
While having a relationship with Catherine, it appears that Crown is also seeing another woman.
McCann tells a story that in the past his girlfriend got drunk, stayed out all night and was married to someone else the next morning.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: MINOR (Return to Summary Chart): It's possible some viewers may find the scenes where some high-tech art thieves try to avoid detection while setting up their heist as somewhat suspenseful.
The same holds true when Catherine and her team have to disable Crown's house alarm before it goes off after they illegally enter his home.

GUNS/WEAPONS: MINOR (Return to Summary Chart): Electric prod: Used by a guard to stun an art thief.
Handguns: Aimed by guards/police at some would-be art thieves.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: MILD (Return to Summary Chart): Phrases: "I don't really give a sh*t," "Sack of sh*t," "Jerk," "Screwed up," "Crapped out," "Geek," "Piss," "Jeez," "Bastard" and "Pissed me off."
There's also a reference to "busting one's cherry" (used in a nonsexual way about inexperience).
It's possible the film could inspire impressionable kids to want to steal (for the sheer challenge as well as monetary reasons).

JUMP SCENES: NONE (Return to Summary Chart): None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): NONE (Return to Summary Chart): None.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): NONE (Return to Summary Chart): None.

PROFANITY: HEAVY (Return to Summary Chart): At least 4 "f" words (1 used sexually), 8 "s" words, 5 hells, 4 damns, 3 S.O.B.s (with another incomplete one), 2 craps, and 3 uses of "G-damn," 2 of "Jesus Christ" and 1 use each of "Jesus," "God" and "For Christ's sakes" as exclamations.
We also see Catherine silently mouth the "f" word in one scene.

SEX/NUDITY: HEAVY (Return to Summary Chart): Crown tells his psychiatrist that intimacy doesn't always equal enjoyment.
Catherine's high-cut, slit dress shows some upper thigh and the top of her garter.
After McCann complains to Catherine that she'll now be on his back (about the investigation), she suggestively comments that he might enjoy that.
We see a bare-breasted, reclining statue of a woman in Crown's home and later see a museum painting featuring a bare-breasted woman.
As they throw questions back and forth at one another, Catherine asks Crown, "Do you really think I'm going to sleep with the man I'm investigating?"
Catherine wears a sheer, and partially see-through dress at a dance that somewhat shows her breasts and butt through it (and the camera briefly focuses on her body). Later we see black and white photos of her in this dress that likewise show diffused views of her bare breasts.
We see Crown and Catherine undressing (her dress falling to the floor from a view at her ankles). She then takes off his shirt and we then see a camera shot from high above them showing him between her legs (and his bare butt, although from a far distance) on the floor and then on the steps. As the camera quickly passes by their bodies as they have sex we see the bare-breasted statue in his house again, as well as fleeting glimpses of her bare breasts or the sides of them. We then see longer views of her entire bare breasts as well as her playfully pouring liquor from a bottle on him. As he then carries her through the shadows we see glimpses of his bare butt and he then lowers her down onto the top of a desk/table. On top of her, he then kisses her and we see more glimpses of them having sex.
Crown and his psychiatrist briefly comment on how porcupines mate -- either very carefully or unsuccessfully.
In the islands and as Catherine walks out with just a towel over her bare shoulders, we see the sides of her bare breasts. She then wraps that towel around the shirtless Crown and they kiss, but we don't see anything else.
As Catherine lies out in the sun on an island, we see several full views of her bare breasts.
From a side angle we see Catherine and Crown in bed together, with her lying nude on top of him (he's also nude), and thus see the sides of their bare butts.
McCann tells a story that in the past his girlfriend got drunk, stayed out all night and was married to someone else the next morning. In response, he states that he "f*cked five women in three nights."
We see an out of focus, modern art painting that shows a man's bare butt and woman's bare breasts.

SMOKING: MINOR (Return to Summary Chart): An executive lights up a cigar upon completing a deal with Crown.
A miscellaneous character has an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: NONE (Return to Summary Chart): None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: MILD (Return to Summary Chart): Catherine's tactics in trying to prove that Crown is guilty (sleeping with him, breaking into his place, etc...).
Whether a successful billionaire would actually do something so risky as steal valuable artwork.

VIOLENCE: MINOR (Return to Summary Chart): Crown purposefully trips a would-be art thief, another is pushed into a wall and a museum guide/security guard zaps one with an electric prod.
Hoping to get a guilty and/or panicked reaction out of Crown, Catherine takes a small crate presumably holding a valuable painting and puts it on a campfire where it completely burns up.
McCann tells a story that in the past his girlfriend got drunk, stayed out all night and was married to someone else the next morning. In response, he states that among other things, he roughed up a suspect (to the point of unconsciousness -- but that isn't seen).