Common Sense Media Review
By Tara McNamara , based on child development research. How do we rate?
age 11+
Amiable right-to-pray dramedy has agenda, child abuse.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
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Violence & Scariness
a lot
Child abuse victim has a bloodied face. Implication of domestic violence via bruises, threats, fearful behavior, and sounds of fighting. Main character frequently gets in fights as a preteen, including punching another boy in the face repeatedly. Wartime violence, with bodies being blown out of a foxhole. A child's adoptive parents return him, which is traumatic. Joe taunts and humiliates a student athlete as a technique for helping his team understand how to work together.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
a little
Close-up of a soldier in his briefs. Kids talk about crushes. Romance and marriage. Kiss and affection. Married couple lies in bed smiling at each other and is shown waking up next to each other.
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Language
a little
Language includes "ass," "asses," "bastard," crap," "maggots," "turd." A mother cruelly says that she wishes she'd never adopted her son.
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Positive Messages
a lot
Stand up for what you believe in. Religious messages, primarily that "God can use anyone, no matter how average they think they are."
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Positive Role Models
a lot
Joe is resilient, perseverant, and keeps his word. He overcomes a troubled childhood in which he uses violence to solve problems; as an adult, he's happy and lighthearted. His propensity to fight is celebrated, showing that he decided to use that quality to become a Marine and then to fight against the system.
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Diverse Representations
very little
Main characters Joseph and Denise Kennedy are White Christians. Supporting Black supporting characters—including a fellow Marine, athletes and coaches, and the school district superintendent—have a couple of lines. Joe is portrayed as stereotypically masculine in a way that equates masculinity with toughness and patriotism.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Average Joe is a faith-based biopic from the producers of God's Not Dead about high school football coach Joseph Kennedy (Eric Close), whose lawsuit against a school district led to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning a law designed to keep government agencies and religion separate. Kennedy's childhood is full of many kids' biggest fears, including family separation, abuse, and a feeling of being unwanted. Particularly upsetting is Joe's adoption story: He says that adoption agencies lied to his birth mother so that she'd relinquish him, and then his adopted family mistreats him, gives him to an abusive friend as free labor (moving away when he's not home), and "returns" him. Joe is depicted as a troubled youth who's quick to use his fists—in one scene, he punches another kid in the face relentlessly and without remorse. His wife is also a victim of domestic violence as both a child and an adult. All of this abuse is implied through intimidating behavior, fearful reactions, yelling, sounds, and a child's face shown stitched, bloody, and bruised. Wartime violence is brief but includes soldiers getting blown out of a foxhole. While opposing points of view to Joe's lawsuit are given voice, the movie's message is ultimately a celebration of the strategic use of lawsuits to overturn laws...and an encouragement to do more of the same. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
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Average Joe
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What's the Story?
Joseph Kennedy (Eric Close) sees himself as just an AVERAGE JOE, a Marine who had a rough childhood and took a winding road to marry his childhood sweetheart, Denise (Amy Acker), before being tapped to coach high school football. Grateful for what he has, Joe makes a vow to God to pray after every game. When the team players begin joining him on the field to pray, complaints and concerns start trickling in to the school board, and the board members ask him to move the prayers to a more private location in fear of a lawsuit based on a violation of the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause. Joe refuses and sues the school district on the grounds of the First Amendment's assurances of Free Exercise and Free Speech. The movie's events are based on the 2022 Supreme Court case that overturned 1971's Lemon vs. Kurtzman law, which had ruled against excessive entanglement between church and state, specifically in education.
Is It Any Good?
Our review:
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Good-natured and sometimes goofy, this well-made drama has a mission: to encourage others to start using the lawsuit-opened door to religion being expressed in U.S. schools and government. U.S. laws have always allowed for individual prayer, and most Americans support that, but problems tend to start when it feels like others' religious freedom is compromised as a result. Average Joe acknowledges this and then shows why Kennedy believes that if he doesn't pray on the 50-yard-line at a game, he's breaking his word to God. After a lawyer from First Liberty Institute approaches him, Kennedy decides to file a lawsuit, despite compromising his wife's career to do so. As played by a smiley Close, Joe is depicted as an easygoing everyman, a likable guy who's overcome childhood trauma. This is all designed to get viewers on his side and brush off his lack of cooperation with the school district, which puts them in a difficult position. (In the Supreme Court's decision, it's mentioned that the media circus surrounding Kennedy led to the district receiving calls from Satanists who "intended to conduct ceremonies on the field after football games if others were allowed to," and the majority of the school's coaches opted not to return the next season in fear that they'd be shot by one of the supporters attracted to the fray created by Kennedy.)
Opposing points of view are heard, but ultimately, Average Joe isn't intended as a thought-provoking movie intended to inspire respectful debate. When Duck Dynasty's Willie Robertson finishes the film by speaking directly to viewers, encouraging them to place religious iconography in public spaces, the movie's activist agenda is clear.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the messages of Average Joe. What do you think the filmmakers' purpose is in making this movie?
What is grit? How does Kennedy demonstrate it, and why is it important? DO you consider him a role model? Why, or why not?
Discuss why the U.S. Constitution includes a separation of church and state. The Lemon vs. Kurtzman law that was overturned by Kennedy's case was specifically about keeping religion out of public school education: Do you think that's important? Why, or why not?
Not included in the film is the fact that it's illegal for a public school to appear to endorse any religion or religious exercise. But Kennedy was leading prayer in the locker room and on the field while still engaged in his role as a school employee, and his fight ultimately drew attention from potentially dangerous people. Step into the shoes of the school district superintendent: How would you handle this?
At different times in their lives, Joe and Denise are the victims of domestic violence. If you or someone you know is being abused, what should you do to help?
Movie Details
- In theaters: October 11, 2024
- Cast: Eric Close, Amy Acker, Austin Woods
- Director: Harold Cronk
- Inclusion Information: Female actors
- Studios: Fathom Events, Pure Flix Entertainment
- Genre: Drama
- Topics: Activism, Sports and Martial Arts, High School, History
- Character Strengths: Gratitude, Perseverance
- Run time: 100 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG-13
- MPAA explanation: some thematic material and violence
- Last updated: October 10, 2024
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Average Joe
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