Rent The Starving Games (2013) on DVD and Blu-ray – DVD Netflix

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that The Starving Games is from the same team that brought us the Scary Movie franchise and spoofs such as Meet the Spartans, and they’re trodding some well-worn paths here as they send up The Hunger Games. There’s lots of cartoon-y violence and some gore, but there are a couple of gratuitous gross-out moments, with one involving blood and the other an infected injury. Speaking of gratuitous, there’s also plenty of sexual content involving men getting hit in the genitalia, some depictions of women as sexual objects, and a couple of sex scenes played for laughs. “S–t” is used, as is other profanity such as “whore” and “ass” and a rude finger gesture. Teens and older kids no doubt will find the spoofs funny, as the movie touches on many of the most popular, recent pop-culture phenomena. But there’s nothing else going on here beyond a gratuitous effort to pander to the juvenile mind.

Sexual
Content

There’s a sex scene in which a large “censored” block covers most of the characters’ bodies, but their heads and bare limbs are shown in many positions; another scene spoofing the movie Avatar simulates sex. Body parts provide a lot of giggle fodder: Men are kicked and punched in the groin frequently; there’s a gratuitous “T&A” scene of cheerleaders dancing and posing suggestively; and heroine Kantmiss “motorboats” a teen boy. Kantmiss and Peter kiss briefly a couple of times and once for a few seconds longer. There’s a male streaker who’s nude from the rear but whose genitals are pixelated from the front. There’s a little potty humor in one scene wherein Kantmiss is seen squatting and grimacing with exaggerated potty sound effects, which is replayed later in slow motion. Kantmiss receives instructions to touch Peter’s “thing.” Getting your first period is mentioned, and a 12-year-old character asks if another is trying to “hook up” with her.

Violence

Most of the violence is cartoon-y and slapstick, without gore, but there are a couple of gratuitous gross-out scenes: Heroine Kantmiss is shown with gory, realistic-looking blood dripping from her mouth, and another character’s infection is oozing and gory. There’s lots and lots of punching, hitting, stabbing, and impaling with arrows or satirical weapons such as a baguette, and much of it is revisited over and over in super slo-mo. The projectiles are shown going through the victim, but again there’s no blood. One clearly fake stabbing includes computer-generated and unrealistically colored splatters of blood. A lot of the fighting involves kicking or punching male genitalia.

Language

“S–t” and variations are used frequently, as is “ass.” Used once or twice each: “piss,” “bitch,” “damn,” “turd,” “prick,” “whore,” “ho,” and “son of a bitch.” An official salute is the middle finger, and it’s shown a half dozen times or so.

Social
Behavior

This straightforward parody is devoid of messages other than product placements.

Consumerism

Lots of products are spoofed with slightly changed names such as “Words with Foes” and “Tres Equis” beer. There are a lot of clear references, without naming them, to popular apps such as Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. A character is seen frequently using Siri, and the leader watches the action on a tablet with a clear Apple logo on it. Other products specifically mentioned include Cinemax, Viagra, Facebook, Twitter, Nike, Subway, Playboy, and Starbucks. A character’s name is pronounced the same as the Toyota “Celica.” Many movie franchises are spoofed, most extensively Avatar, The Lord of the Rings, and The Avengers.

Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol

In a parody of a Dos Equis commercial, a character drinks and then spits out beer both in the movie and again in the bloopers at the end.