PARENTS' GUIDE TO MOVIES

This comedy about a 40-something guy (Rainn Wilson from "The Office") who can't let go of a failure from his 20s is also an inspired send-up of the rock music world. The movie shows adults drinking and driving, and includes mild comic violence, jokes about drugs, midrange profanity and sexual slang, and back-view nudity. More for high-schoolers.

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" PG-13

There's no explicit sexuality beyond passionate kisses in this wise, sophisticated romantic comedy by Woody Allen, but the movie is very European-casual in its approach to sexual threesomes, which are strongly implied, but not graphically depicted. So it is more for college-age sophisticates than for high-schoolers. The rating reflects rare profanity, implied sexual situations, a suicide theme, drinking and smoking.

"Henry Poole Is Here" PG

Luke Wilson plays the title character in this flawed but sweet-natured drama with a spiritual theme. Henry Poole is a depressed man who buys a modest house, moves in, and tries to drink himself into oblivion. But his neighbors intrude. There is talk of parental abandonment, sad childhoods and terminal illness, as well as rare mild profanity and mild sexual innuendo. For thoughtful teens.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" PG

This computer-animated tale marks the seventh theatrical feature in George Lucas' "Star Wars" series, but it suffers by comparison to its live-action predecessors. (It is also promo-ing an animated "Star Wars" series coming to cable TV this fall.) The Family Filmgoer was bored senseless at a recent showing but saw that little kids were rapt and doesn't know whether this was with or without knowledge of the "Star Wars" mythology. There are scenes showing creatures sipping something probably alcoholic and dancers doing mildly suggestive moves at that now legendary intergalactic cantina. Jabba the Hutt's uncle puffs on a hookah. Battle sequences between Separatists and the Republic's Jedi knights and Clone Troopers show androids beheaded. There are aerial dogfights, tank attacks and light-saber duels. Some of the alien beings are monsterish. A baby "Huttlet" —- son of Jabba the Hutt —- nearly dies.

"Tropic Thunder" R

A starry cast makes hay with lewd sexual language, drugs and toilet humor in this ingenious spoof of the movie biz. Directed and co-written by Ben Stiller (who co-stars), the movie is hugely funny but inappropriate for under-17s unless parents say OK. Pop-culture-savvy college kids will totally get it. The dialogue is profane and sexually crude. A drug addiction theme is prominent and there are war scenes in the film-within-a-film that show grossly bloody fake wounds for laughs. The film disses African-Americans, Southeast Asians, Jews, gays and people with cognitive disabilities —- or at least how they are portrayed in film. (Organizations are protesting.) This movie could make millions skewering Hollywood pretensions and greed.

"Fly Me to the Moon" G

Three young flies stow away on the Apollo 11 spacecraft and go to the moon and back in this marginally entertaining computer-animated feature in 3-D. The eye-popping visuals —- a dragonfly zooming at you, a fly's-eye-view of a swamp or the inside of an astronaut's helmet —- put the moviegoer in the thick of things and far outstrip the jumbled, charmless story. The film's detailed rendering of the Apollo mission might enthrall science-savvy kids. The film contains mildly crude language ("crap"), and we see an ashtray full of cigarette butts. There is a Russian vs. American fly-fight finale.

"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" PG-13

The four brainy gal pals in this sequel have separate summer adventures after they start college and find it tough to keep their friendship on track. Teen girls ought to like the way the heroines pursue challenging careers and let romance happen. This is somewhat sophisticated fare and not all middle schoolers will be mature enough for it. There is a muted but strongly implied sexual situation.