Summer family flicks

With the summer winding down and school starting in less than a month, family time is about to get crowded with classes, homework, ball games, practices and a slew of other school-year activities. Take an afternoon or evening to get in some last-minute bonding time at a family-friendly summer film. The following movies have been summarized and rated for family entertainment. A matinee costs for $6.75 adult and $7.50 for prime time. Youth tickets are always $6.25.

"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry"

Rated: PG-13.

Suitable for: Teens and older.

What you should know: Kevin James is a firefighter who calls in a favor from a pal, played by Adam Sandler, when civic red tape prevents him from naming his children as insurance beneficiaries. The favor: Pretend to be domestic partners. The cast also includes Jessica Biel as a lawyer.

Language: Commonplace three- or four-letter words, plus gay slurs.

"It's got a lot of crude humor," said Cape West 14 Cine employee Austin Thrower. "Not a whole lot, but they same some things that aren't real nice, but it's pretty funny." Thrower said the movie would be better suited to older families with children at least 15 or older.

"You wouldn't want to bring a 12-year-old to it," Thrower said.

Sexual situations and nudity: A communal shower scene, with strategically placed walls, features shots of soapy naked behinds. Also, suggestive poses, women in their underwear, a man's bedroom from which a half-dozen women spill out, a shot of three people in a bed, a blow-up doll and lots of jokes about homosexuals and sex.

Violence/scary situations: Other than some fire scenes, the violence (slaps, punches) is slapstick and meant for laughs.

Drug or alcohol use: Beer and wine consumption, plus a joke about marijuana.

"Hairspray"

Rated: PG.

Suitable for: School-age children and above.

What you should know: The original 1988 John Waters film, which morphed into a Broadway musical, has become a movie again. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky plays a plump Baltimore teen named Tracy Turnblad who dreams of dancing on a local TV show -- and integrating it, too. The cast also includes John Travolta, in drag but dancing up a storm, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron.

Language: Nothing you wouldn't hear on TV.

Sexual situations and nudity: Pretty tame. A man (John Waters, in cameo) is a flasher, but you never see what he's flashing. Couples kiss, a dancer is about to take a nine-month leave for the unspecified but obvious reason, and Travolta's zaftig mother is shown in her underwear.

Violence/scary situations: A mother tries to tame her daughter by tying her to the bed, but it's brief and played for laughs. Same with police efforts to find Tracy after she conks a cop with a protest sign.

Drug or alcohol use: A drunk is shown in a bar and, in a sign of the 1960s, there's a shot of pregnant women drinking and smoking. Teens are also shown smoking cigarettes in the girls' room at school.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

Rated: PG-13.

Suitable for: Age 11 and older, or children at least familiar with the book.

What you should know: Based on the fifth book in J.K. Rowling's popular series about the now-teenage Harry, this is the darkest tale to hit theaters yet. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is suffering nightmarish visions and fretting over his connection to the evil Lord Voldemort, while some in the wizarding world are in denial about the dark lord's return. A new teacher, the sweetly sadistic Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), comes along and threatens the good life at Hogwarts school, forcing Harry and his friends to take matters into their own hands.

"I think of all of the Harry Potter books, it was probably the most challenging to put into a movie," said Sharon Anderson, youth services coordinator with the Cape Girardeau Public Library. She said "Order of the Phoenix" was less plot driven and more about Harry's "inner journey."

"He's coming of age and it's shifting from adolescent fun and games and he's learning about the evils men can do," she said.

Language: Some British slang, but nothing bad to speak of.

Sexual situations and nudity: Harry and crush Cho Chang finally share a sweet first-kiss, where daylight can still be seen between the teens' bodies. Another teen couple are seen kissing in a hallway.

Violence/scary situations: As with the books, the movie introductions are getting darker. The latest installment to the series begins with Harry and his cousin get attacked by the soul-sucking Dementors. A teacher forces students to write with a pen that etches what they are writing into their flesh, but the scenes are not very graphic. There are life-threatening situations, including a climactic battle between students and Voldemort's minions in which a character is killed, but not gruesomely.

Anderson said this movie was slightly harder to follow if you haven't read the book. She said that because it is darker and there is no "magic age," younger children might need to go with parents or just wait to watch it.

"I'd be leary even if they were 9 or 10," she said. "The Dementors are frightening.

"Maybe seeing it as a family gives you a chance to discuss what's going to happen to Harry," she said.

Drug or alcohol use: Only of the wizarding variety -- e.g., potions are used to force the truth from students.

Staff writer Chris Harris contributed to this report which originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.