ROTTEN TOMATOES: Opening This Week

ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movies Opening This Week

It is the rare week when all the new releases are rated R for reasons which include nudity.

The American. Clooney as an assassin in an international thriller. 64% positive reviews. It is rated R for "violence, sexual content and nudity." I assume the nudity is not Clooney's butt or some other dudity, based on this review: "A 'one last job' effort with a conflicted protagonist, a bevy of smoldering Euro actresses suffering from an allergic reaction to clothes, and a few flashes of violence to crack the meditative veneer."

Going the Distance. Drew Barrymore and real-life boyfriend Justin Long in an extremly naughty rom-com. 31% positive reviews. Rated R for "sexual content including dialogue, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity." Both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter took a hearty dump on it. THR said, for example, "Going the Distance is, in a way, a remarkable film: It's hard to imagine any romantic comedy going wrong in so many different ways. There almost seems to be a contest going on for worst scene, worst character, most cringe-inducing moment and most awesomely bad line."

Machete. Another over-the-top exploitation flick from the master of that genre, Robert Rodriguez. No reviews yet, except a negative from Slant. Rated: R for "strong bloody violence throughout, language, some sexual content and nudity." The Slant reviewer says that Rodriguez spoils all the fun with serious political statements. That may well be true, but I have one question. How the hell did Rodriguez let Slant get the only advance look at his film? Why not send out screeners to people who actually like his work? If the damned thing was any good at all, I would have sold the hell out of it! Perhaps his failure to do that indicates that he wasn't even confident of good reviews from his fans.