16 and older. It's also the closest thing to a movie musical we've had in years. Ben Foster plays Berke, a nice kid whose girlfriend breaks up with him. Soon she and the whole neighborhood is boogieing behind Burke. It's an imaginative touch, and the movie stays that light on its feet, skipping between reality and fantasy.
Rivalries brew between the romantic leads, onstage and off.
It will also clue them in about the former Soviet Union's role as our ally in World War II and the sacrifices its people made. Other mature elements include the distant view of a child hanged by the Germans, an explicit sex scene, semi-nudity, strong language, drinking and smoking. In it, randomly selected contestants are armed, teamed up with camera crews and sent out to kill their opponents. The survivor wins. The film is appropriate only for mature high-schoolers of 16 or 17 who understand irony and satire and won't be inclined to take it literally.