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Today’s Prayer Focus

Hugh Jackman, Australian actor, singer, producer—“Deadpool and Wolverine ,” “Les Misérables,” “The Prestige,” “X-Men” series, “Real Steel,” “Kate & Leopold” • Faith: “I’m a Christian” (2015); he also practices Transcendental Meditation daily. Jackson’s father is reportedly a devout, born-again Christian, saved through a Billy Graham crusade. In his 20s, Hugh participated in the School of Practical Philosophy, a philosophical system of Hinduism promoting meditation. Hugh is reportedly an active philanthropist.
Jennifer Lawrence, American actress, producer—“No Hard Feelings,” “Mother!”, “Red Sparrow,” “The Hunger Games” 1-3, “X-Men: First Class” 1-2, “American Hustle,” “Silver Linings Playbook”. • Faith: Agnosticism, Secularism, raised in Christianity • Worldview: Progressive Liberalism, Feminism (activist), Pro-Abortion (activist), LGBTQ+ supporter and speaker at 2024 GLAAD Media Awards • Time listed her in 2013 as one of the world’s 100 most influential people

Please take a moment now to pray for these influential people (prayer suggestions).

In the Cut

MPA Rating: R-Rating (MPA)

for strong sexuality including explicit dialogue, nudity, graphic crime scenes and language.

Moral Rating:	not reviewed
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Adults
Genre:	Crime Thriller
Length:	1 hr. 58 min.
Year of Release:	2003
USA Release:

Featuring	Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Damici
Director	Jane Campion
Producer	Effie Brown
Distributor	Screen Gems, a division of Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: Following the brutal murder of a young woman in her neighborhood, a self-determined NYU professor dares to test the limits of her own safety by propelling herself into an impossibly risky sexual liaison with a detective. As the affair increasingly pushes the limits of sexuality, she grows wary about the motives of every male with whom she has contact—including the detective.

Positive

Positive—One of the things I believe art is for is to allow us to understand our darker nature so we can avoid it. It is on this level that “In The Cut” works. I am a non-Christian, an ardent secularist, so I am not sure how much of what went on in the interpersonal relations of the characters are familiar to a devout Christian. I found the sense of longing and searching in this film familiar—not healthy but familiar.

The story is over the top but the essential relationships (minus the crime story) is instructive about the dangers of allowing appetites to overtake judgment.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/4]

Jamie [non-Christian], age 44

Negative

Negative—This was a horrible movie. There was very foul language and complete nudity (both male and female). I wanted to see who the killer was in the movie, but had to fast-forward past so many parts because it was so offensive. Sex is made out as sleazy and disgusting, not at all what God intended it to be. If you rent this movie, keep your remote at hand. This should have had at least an NC-17 rating.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/1]

Chele Brannen, age 35

Negative—This film is filled with raw nudity, graphic language, violence and bloody. Meg Ryan portrayed herself as very sleazy with little interpersonal skills as an English teacher. The meeting of Meg’s father and mother trivializes the commitment and thought to marriage and makes it romantic to have instant attraction and lust. This mindset is played out in Meg and her sister’s encounters with men in their lives. There is no moral value to the movie. Christians beware.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/2]

Carla, age 48

Movie Critics

…skeevy little erotic thriller …dwells on the dirty talk and sexual experiments… I’d rather watch crash test dummies any day—it’s shorter than this drawn out two-hours and the results are just as inevitable.

Jeremiah Kipp, Slant Magazine

…derivative, idiotic thriller that is devoid of any suspense, logic or intelligence…

Shlomo Schwartzberg, Box Office Magazine

…I hate this movie. …almost unbearably pretentious…

Jack Matthews, New York Daily News

…Meg slums, and result is glum… The point being laboriously made—that all men are monsters, though some in a way that really turns girls on—is elementary feminist at its most banal…

Bob Strauss, L.A. Daily News

…Meg Ryan’s most naked performance. Boy, they weren’t kidding. …the plot slips too much into a cheap Seven whodunit category and just falls apart…

E! Online

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in Christian Spotlight reviews are those of the reviewers themselves, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Christian Answers.

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