STATESIDE
A clumsy melodrama that chooses lust over responsibility.
Should You Watch It?
You should skip Stateside. The film centers on a privileged Connecticut high school boy who joins the Marines after a drunk-driving accident, then repeatedly abandons his military responsibilities to pursue a troubled young woman. The story treats their attachment as romantic even when his choices disregard her health, her treatment, and his own obligations.
The film also earns its R rating through casual attitudes toward alcohol and sex, along with sexual content, nudity, language, and underage drinking. Its melodramatic style, convoluted storytelling, overcooked acting, and weak production values make the experience even less worthwhile.
This is not a hidden gem that needs patient viewing. For your family or your own viewing time, choose something else.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESMark Deloach is a privileged Connecticut high school student who enters the Marines rather than go to jail after a drunk-driving accident. Before leaving for boot camp, he notices a mysterious girl. When he returns home, he finds her again and learns that she is Dori Lawrence, a slightly famous movie actress undergoing treatment for schizophrenia.
Their relationship becomes complicated by her mental illness and by Mark’s determination to make the romance work.
Is It Any Good?
One star means the film’s few strengths cannot overcome its serious artistic failures. Jonathan Tucker gives an earnest and effective performance as Mark, standing out as the brightest spot in an otherwise dreary movie.
The filmmaking is needlessly convoluted, even though the story is relatively simple. Its soap-opera aesthetic appears in the overcooked acting and plot turns. The production values are inattentive, with a story officially set in 1980 that seems at different times to belong to 1945, 1965, or 1999. The editing is clumsy and sometimes inexplicable.
The Worldview
Stateside presents a romantic worldview in which immature attachments become more important than health or wise choices. Mark repeatedly chooses time with Dori over military training and responsibility. The story treats his persistence as meaningful even when he disregards her mental health and treatment.
The film also includes a priest who forgives a boy for causing him to be paralyzed, Marines who do their duty by going overseas to fight, anti-capitalist elements related to politically correct class envy, and a brief sarcastic mockery of the priest. These ideas sit alongside a romance that does not adequately distinguish devotion from reckless desire.
The film’s central lesson about choosing romantic attachment over wise responsibility conflicts with the biblical call to flee sexual immorality: “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Romantic worldview in which immature attachments are more important than health or wise choices, with a priest who forgives a boy for causing him to be paralyzed, Marines who do their duty by going overseas to fight, anti-capitalist elements related to politically correct class envy, and a brief sarcastic mockery of the priest; 25 obscenities and eight profanities; boy’s finger stapled by Marine sergeant and war wounds shown; fornication implied several times with several different couples, group sex implied which was possibly forced on the woman, high school students make crude sex remarks, students exchange sexually explicit letters, and a mother reads aloud one of the explicit letters; upper male nudity, girls shown in underwear before and after fornicating, full frontal female nudity in a strip club; teenagers drink alcohol frequently, often while driving; teenagers smoke cigarettes frequently, but no drug use; and, boy sneaks mentally ill girl out of hospital and drinking and driving not severely enough rebuked. GENRE: Drama
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Mark repeatedly chooses romance over responsibility. What does Scripture say about seeking wise counsel and accepting the consequences of our choices?
Proverbs 12:15 · Galatians 6:7The film treats sexual desire casually. How does the Bible describe the purpose and boundaries of sexual intimacy?
1 Corinthians 6:18–20 · Hebrews 13:4Mark disregards Dori’s health and treatment in pursuit of their relationship. How can love protect another person rather than simply pursue what we want?
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 · Philippians 2:3–4The characters treat alcohol and drinking and driving too casually. Why does Scripture connect wisdom with sobriety and self-control?
Proverbs 20:1 · 1 Peter 5:8The Final Word
Stateside is poorly made and morally confused, presenting reckless desire as devotion while treating alcohol and sex casually. Its few strengths do not justify the content or the wasted time. Our answer is clear: SKIP IT. For better options, see.
