THE BAXTER
And, the Two Shall Become One
What You Need To Know
THE BAXTER is a sweet-natured, very funny romantic comedy produced on a low budget, but it contains some foul language, light sexual references and several New Age references that will turn off moral viewers.
What’s a Baxter? According to Elliott Sherman’s grandmother, a “Baxter” is a guy who never gets the girl. Elliott certainly qualifies. He has had several girlfriends who run off with other guys whom they really love. An obsessive-compulsive, nerdy accountant at a major firm in New York City, Elliott starts to fall for a pretty temporary female secretary named Cecil Mills, who’s also a bit nerdy. His interest suddenly changes when Caroline Swann, a beautiful, confident blonde from an upper class family, sweeps into his office. Elliott and Caroline get engaged, but it becomes clear that Elliott could very well be missing out on his perfect match, Miss Mills. Complicating matters is the fact that, days before his wedding with Caroline, her ex-boyfriend, Bradley, re-appears.
Rated PG-13 for brief sexual humor, language and a drug reference, THE BAXTER is a charming crowd-pleasure that has some of the qualities of the best romantic comedies. The sexual humor is not as crude or offensive as recent R-rated comedies and other PG-13 comedies Hollywood produces. In fact, the romantic relationships are handled in an old-fashioned manner that is endearing as well as humorous. Thus, the movie has a light moral worldview about finding one’s true mate. There is also a scene set in a Christian church wedding. Taken as a whole, however, the movie’s negative elements rate a caution from MOVIEGUIDE®.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Light moral worldview about finding one's true mate, with some church wedding scenes with Christian icons, but there's a female pastor, as well as a couple comical references to feng shui (a pagan superstition), and a pointless scene after the credits where a scientist/anthropologist character talks about visiting a pagan shaman and eating a hallucinogenic paste that "changed" him in some way that's not defined, as well as minor homosexual character whose homosexuality is played for laughs; one possibly muffled "f" word, two strong profanities and 13 light profanities; light comical violence such as a couple pratfalls and man accidentally kicks another man in the nose while doing some fancy break dancing; implied sexual immorality and light sexual references, such as unmarried adult boyfriend and girlfriend (with pajamas on) lie in bed and thus it is implied that they are living together before they get engaged (but later in the story it seems that they aren't), minor homosexual character who comically flirts with a couple of male characters but not in an explicit way, kissing, characters are obviously attracted to one another and almost kiss but they keep stopping themselves or getting interrupted until the final reel, man puts on woman's panties to hide them from his fiancé, and a crude sexual reference is interrupted before it is totally finished; no nudity, but quirky minor male character walks around in his shorts a lot; alcohol use plays a major role; no smoking but there is a reference after the final credits to eating an unknown hallucinogenic "paste" and finding some kind of new enlightenment that is not defined; and, lying, engaged to be married hero allows pretty woman distraught over fighting with her boyfriend to sleep overnight on his couch, engaged couple argues, jealousy, and man contemplates suicide after a fight with his fiancé.
