LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES
Charming campus comedy fatally marred by immoral sexual content.
Should You Watch It?
This is a likable, unusually sincere comic-drama about four Australian college students looking for love, housing, academic change, and direction. Its low-budget production rises above its limitations, and the characters’ small troubles are presented with warmth, wit, and charm.
But the film’s positive qualities cannot overcome its content. The review identifies sexual activities, same-gender sexuality, drugs, partial nudity, profanity, and other immoralities. Its fluid attitude toward bisexuality and its lack of a concrete moral foundation further weaken the film’s message.
The practical answer is simple: skip it, even though its filmmaking and characters have real merit.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESOn an Australian college campus, Alice is looking for an ideal boyfriend, Mia is pursuing a new academic interest and a professor, Ari is the campus heartthrob, and Michael is searching for a room. Their romantic, academic, and housing troubles bring them together as they navigate the ordinary catastrophes of student life.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means this is a genuinely enjoyable film despite its serious problems. First-time director and writer Emma-Kate Croghan gives the campus comedy a light, charming tone. The trivial catastrophes are presented with wit, and the characters are likable, engaging, and sincere.
The cast is well chosen, and the film rises far above its modest $37,000 budget after being shot in only 17 days. Its good-natured warmth makes it an otherwise happy and enjoyable effort.
The Worldview
The film presents college relationships through a worldview the review describes as pagan, with homosexuality and lesbianism involved. Its fluid attitude toward bisexuality is troubling, and the film lacks a concrete moral foundation rooted in belief in God. Its characters look for direction while pop idols, movies, movie stars, and pop singers serve as cultural reference points and role models.
The review sees the students’ superficial role models and vacuous values as evidence of a generation that does not know the Truth that can set them free from bondage. The characters’ sincerity and likability are real strengths, but the film does not provide the biblical grounding needed to guide their decisions.
The students’ search for love and direction points toward a need for truth rather than merely appealing role models. Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Pagan worldview of college relationships with homosexuality & lesbianism involved; 9 obscenities, 8 vulgarities & 2 profanities; sexual relationships outside marriage, same gender sexuality, 1 sexual act, numerous sexual situations including two homosexuals in a bathroom, 2 lesbians kissing, & sexual references in conversations; partial nudity; drinking; some drug use; and, signature forgery & gross scene of man vomiting.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Where do the students look for direction, and what makes someone a trustworthy role model?
Psalm 1:1–3 · 1 Corinthians 11:1How does the film’s treatment of relationships differ from God’s design for sexual faithfulness?
1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 · Hebrews 13:4Why can sincerity and likability not replace a moral foundation?
Proverbs 14:12 · John 8:31–32What does it mean to seek truth while making decisions about love, identity, and the future?
John 14:6 · James 1:5The Final Word
This comic-drama is witty, warm, and sincerely made. But its sexual content, drug use, partial nudity, profanity, and weak moral foundation fatally mar its strengths. For your family, the answer is SKIP IT. Consider these alternatives instead:
