review film profile

• Awards Season
• Big Stories
• Pop Culture
• Video Games
• Celebrities

How to Create a Profile on Classmates Official Site

Creating a profile on the Classmates official site is a great way to reconnect with old friends and classmates. It’s easy to do, and it only takes a few minutes. Here are the steps you need to take to create your profile.

Step 1: Sign Up

The first step in creating your profile is signing up for an account. You can do this by visiting the Classmates website and clicking on the “Sign Up” button. You will then be prompted to enter your email address and create a password for your account. Once you have done this, you will be ready to move on to the next step.

Step 2: Enter Your Information

Once you have signed up for an account, you will need to enter some basic information about yourself. This includes your name, date of birth, current city, and other relevant information. You can also add a profile picture if you wish. This will help people recognize you when they come across your profile.

Step 3: Connect With Your Friends

The final step in creating your profile is connecting with your friends and classmates. You can do this by searching for their names or email addresses in the search bar at the top of the page. Once you have found them, simply click “Connect” and they will be added to your list of friends.

Creating a profile on Classmates is easy and only takes a few minutes of your time. By following these steps, you can quickly reconnect with old friends and classmates from all over the world.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

MORE FROM ASK.COM

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotter Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Netflix streaming
• Amazon prime
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Shayda Link to Shayda
• The Boy and the Heron Link to The Boy and the Heron
• Leo Link to Leo

New TV Tonight

• Doctor Who: Season 0
• Archie: Season 1
• Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning: Season 1
• Culprits: Season 1
• World War II: From the Frontlines: Season 1
• My Life With the Walter Boys: Season 1
• Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• Fargo: Season 5
• Slow Horses: Season 3
• A Murder at the End of the World: Season 1
• Sex Education: Season 4
• Bookie: Season 1
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: Season 1
• The Artful Dodger: Season 1
• A Nearly Normal Family: Season 1
• Squid Game: The Challenge: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News
• Prime Video

Certified fresh pick

• Slow Horses: Season 3 Link to Slow Horses: Season 3
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming

Netflix’s 100 Best Movies Right Now (December 2023)

Awards Tour

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Everything We Know About the Fallout TV Series

The Most Anticipated TV & Streaming Shows of December 2023

• Trending on RT
• Shop Rotten Tomatoes
• RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ
• Godzilla Minus One

2018, Mystery & thriller/Drama, 1h 45m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Profile 's unique narrative gimmick is enough to carry the film partway, but it's ultimately overwhelmed by an increasingly ludicrous plot. Read critic reviews

Where to watch Profile

Rent Profile on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, or buy it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu.

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)

You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.

Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified..

AMCTheatres.com or AMC App New

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

Theater box office or somewhere else

By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.

You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.

Profile videos, profile   photos.

PROFILE follows an undercover British journalist in her quest to bait and expose a terrorist recruiter through social media, while trying not to be sucked in by her recruiter and lured into becoming a militant extremist herself. The unconventional thriller plays out entirely on a computer screen in the Screenlife format, pioneered by Bekmambetov.

Rating: R (Some Disturbing Images|Language Throughout)

Genre: Mystery & thriller, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Producer: Timur Bekmambetov , Olga Kharina

Writer: Britt Poulton , Timur Bekmambetov , Olga Kharina

Release Date (Theaters): May 14, 2021  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Jul 27, 2021

Box Office (Gross USA): $1.5M

Runtime: 1h 45m

Distributor: Focus Features

Production Co: Bazelevs Entertainment, TABBAK

Cast & Crew

Valene Kane

Shazad Latif

Abu Bilel Al-Britani

Christine Adams

Amir Rahimzadeh

Morgan Watkins

Kelley Mack

Converted Female

Kate Watson

YouTube Star

Timur Bekmambetov

Britt Poulton

Screenwriter

Olga Kharina

Rick Sobalvarro

Executive Producer

Adam Sidman

Mariya Zatulovskaya

Andrey Shugaev

Film Editing

Production Design

Varya Avdyushko

Costume Design

John McAlary

Critic Reviews for Profile

Audience reviews for profile.

There are no featured audience reviews for Profile at this time.

Movie & TV guides

Discover What to Watch

Rotten Tomatoes: The Card Game

Rotten Tomatoes Podcasts

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Profile’ Review: Screen Sharing With Extremists

Interactions between a journalist and a recruiter for the Islamic State play out over screens in this hackneyed thriller.

• Share full article

By Teo Bugbee

The shallow thriller “Profile” tells the story of Amy (Valene Kane), an ambitious British journalist on a mission to expose an Islamic State recruitment ring that targets European women. She creates a false identity with a Facebook profile to match, and draws the attention of Bilel (Shazad Latif), a London-born recruiter. Undercover, Amy begins to flirt with Bilel, suggesting her readiness to travel to Syria. Her investigation is dangerous, but the risk plays out entirely online. It’s provocative material, but unfortunately “Profile” is more interested in gimmicks than analysis.

“Profile” was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who was previously a producer on the cyber-thrillers “Unfriended” and “Searching.” Much like those earlier films, “Profile” is set on a single computer screen. The screen furiously flashes between desktop windows, swapping between Amy’s Skype calls with Bilel and text messages from her increasingly concerned editor and friends. The digital frenzy is engaging, even if it lacks the novelty of earlier experiments in cinematic screen sharing.

More troublesome is the movie’s sensationalized story, which is adapted from the book “In The Skin of a Jihadist.” Despite this nonfiction reference material, the movie presents a simplistic and hackneyed view of what drives extremism. Bilel is shown to be an attractive manipulator who is defined more by machismo than by any ideological passions. The interactions between Bilel and Amy take the form of a mutual seduction. But the movie doesn’t examine the politics or the psychology of Amy’s undercover investigation, and as a result, her story feels insufficient, neither worth her risk nor the audience’s time.

Profile Rated R for language, violence and references to sexuality. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

The long-running crime franchises “NCIS” and “Law & Order” continue to endure  — and even expand — after decades on the air.

​​Emma Corrin has worked steadily since breaking out as a young Princess Diana in “The Crown.” The actor’s latest role is as an amateur sleuth in the brooding FX limited series “A Murder at the End of the World.”

​​In an interview, Jesse Armstrong, the “Succession” creator, looked back on the end of the HBO show  and discussed Marxism, extreme wealth and whether any of his characters were remotely likable.

​​Charles Melton, the ex-“Riverdale” star, transformed himself  for Todd Haynes’s new drama “May December.”

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors.

Now streaming on:

Looney Tunes fans out there may fondly recall the 1957 short “Show Biz Bugs,” in which vaudevillians Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck engage in fierce applause-bait competition, ending with Daffy bringing down the house by literally immolating himself. (An act “that no other performer has dared to execute.”) Noting the crowd’s reaction, Bugs tells Daffy the crowd is ripe for an encore, but Daffy’s spirit, ascending to the Pearly Gates, replies, “I know, I know. But I can only do it once.”

There has been more than one motion picture that takes place entirely on a computer screen—indeed, Wikipedia now has a page devoted to the sub-sub-genre—so the thing can, in fact, be accomplished more than once. But should it be? This was a question I asked as I got that sinking feeling about ten minutes into “Profile,” wondering if it would indeed be an entire “computer screen movie.” Which indeed it turned out to be.

This is especially disappointing given the director of this ostensible thriller—in which an investigative journalist, named Amy and played by Valene Kane , skates on thin ice by masquerading as an Islam convert in order to attract ISIS recruiters—is directed by Timur Bekmambetov . The filmmaker who made you believe a sports car could successfully drive on the wall of a circular room, in one of those “Watch” movies, either “ Night Watch ” or “Day Watch,” I don’t remember which. In any event, a man capable of such feats of cinematic lunacy ought not be limiting himself to one screen. Bekmambetov’s pictures, which also include the possibly sublimely obnoxious 2008 “ Wanted ,” are object lessons in the thesis articulated by Tony Zhou in his landmark video essay about a different filmmaker, Michael Bay : “We are really visually sophisticated and totally visually illiterate. We can process visual information at a speed that wasn’t common before, but thinking through what an image means, not so much.”

In “Profile,” the images mix real documentary footage with fictional social media and news organization posts. And meaning is elemental—a simplistic rush meant to induce viewer panic. While also being incredibly on-the-nose.

One thread, intertwining with Amy’s interactions with a charming ISIS dude named Bilel, involves a young English woman who went ISIS and wound up stoned to death. A memorial video shows the girl playing, on acoustic guitar, a version of Radiohead’s “Creep.” Some minutes later, navigating between her new terrorist friend and a bossy editor and more, Amy cries out, “I don’t belong here.” Get it?

While it’s difficult, obviously, to bring nuance to a topic so immediately repellent as ISIS terrorists brainwashing Western women and turning them into sex slaves, the filmmakers seem only interested in propagating and amplifying stereotypes. And not only about terrorists. The handsome Shazad Latif , as Bilel, is styled to be a snack to Western eyes, what with his luxuriant hair and aviator sunglasses. He’s bluff and pushy and a bit of a bore, starting in on Amy/Melody to get down to Syria right away. “You’ll never want to leave,” he says, showing himself standing near a swimming pool in one exchange.

Far more egregious is the portrayal of Amy and how she gets to “know” Bilel in the first place. She seems to be the world’s most unprepared investigative journalist, concocting her Islam-convert persona out of whole cloth, so to speak. She’s barely learned how to put on a burqa when Bilel makes his first avid call. She also keeps her pet dog around the apartment—I know, where else is she gonna keep him, but hear me out, Islamic terrorists in particular have a thing about dogs, so if one shows up in your screen, it’s a bit of a giveaway regarding your credibility.

Amy’s also bigoted—she doesn’t trust a tech-savvy colleague because he’s of Arabic descent. And she’s inept personally as well as professionally; we soon learn one reason she’s so desperate to get this story off the ground is that she’s £1,990 behind in rent. And never mind her topsy-turvy relationship with her bourgeois boyfriend.

One signal characteristic of this film is that the director makes sure there’s a whole lot of all apps and screens and tabs and desktop icons, and that they pop up really fast and sometimes only stay up long enough for you to blink—it’s a harried world in cyberspace, baby. Amy's lack of ability in navigating all of this technology constitutes a sexist cliché par excellence, a variant on the old “can you believe women drivers?” trope.

The movie is loosely based on a book by the French journalist Anna Érelle called In The Skin of a Jihadist . Like Amy in this movie, Érelle herself posed as an Islam convert looking for opportunities in ISIS, and like Amy, she used the screen name “Melody Nelson” as an alias. Love that Gainsbourg. One hopes Érelle did not commit all the gaffes that Amy does here. 

Now playing in theaters.

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

Now playing

Brian Tallerico

Milli Vanilli

Christy lemire.

May December

Sheila o'malley.

Simon Abrams

Next Goal Wins

Matt zoller seitz.

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé

Film credits.

Profile (2021)

105 minutes

Valene Kane as Amy Whittaker

Shazad Latif as Abu Bilel Al-Britani

Christine Adams as Vick

Amir Rahimzadeh as Lou

Morgan Watkins as Matthew

• Timur Bekmambetov

Writer (based on the novel "In the skin of a Jihadist")

• Anna Érelle
• Olga Kharina
• Britt Poulton
• Andrey Shugaev

Latest blog posts

Saltburn and Subverting the Passing Narrative

The Tenth Anniversary of The Unloved

The Unloved, Part 120: The Claim

A Farewell and Tribute to Our Senior Editor, Nick Allen

Summary An undercover British journalist attempts to bait and expose a terrorist recruiter through social media, while trying not to be sucked in by her recruiter and lured into becoming a militant extremist herself.

Directed By : Timur Bekmambetov

Written By : Britt Poulton, Olga Kharina, Anna Érelle, Timur Bekmambetov

Where to Watch

Valene Kane

Morgan Watkins

Christine Adams

Kate watson, makeup tutorial instructor, kelley mack, converted female, sherine chalhie, hijab tutorial instructor, eloise thomas, adam sidman, amir rahimzadeh, shazad latif, selva rasalingam, therica wilson-read, hollie burgess, marie hamilton, irina klimovich, louis martin, adam scott-rowley, critic reviews.

• All Reviews
• Positive Reviews
• Mixed Reviews
• Negative Reviews

User Reviews

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Related Movies

Rear Window

Three Colors: Red

Citizen Kane

North by Northwest

The Lady Vanishes

The Maltese Falcon

The Third Man

Spirited Away

Double Indemnity

Anatomy of a Murder

Don't Look Now

Apocalypse Now

The 39 Steps

Solaris (1972)

Reversal of Fortune

Brother's Keeper

Apocalypse now: final cut.

Related News

Director Roxanne Benjamin Gender-Flips Gaslighting and Parental Tropes in Horror Film 'There's Something Wrong With the Children'

Danielle turchiano.

'To me, [the film] was more about the idea of family and what it's supposed to look like,' the director tells Metacritic. 'You might have to fight against that continually until you die.'

2023 Critics Choice Awards Winners: From 'Better Call Saul' to 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

Find out who took home trophies at the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards.

With 'The Drop,' Director Sarah Adina Smith Has Made Her Most Personal Movie Yet — And in a Genre She Never Expected to Work In

Sam rosenberg.

The comedy was born out of a conversation between Smith and her DP husband Shaheen Seth about the female equivalent of the protagonist's bad action in 'Force Majeure.'

2023 DGA Awards Theatrical Nominations: From Steven Spielberg to John Patton Ford

Find out who was nominated for theatrical film DGA Awards in 2023.

2023 SAG Awards Nominations: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' and 'Ozark' Score Big, 'The White Lotus' Switches Categories

Find out which actors from film and television earned Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations at the 29th annual celebration.

• by Robert Kojder
• Flickeringmyth

Similar News

Timur bekmambetov.

• by Shawn S. Lealos, Lindsay Michel
• ScreenRant.com

• by Samuel Dunsiger

• by Antonio Stallings
• Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Christine Adams (I)

• by Ali Valle

• by Brennan Klein

• by Aman Goyal
• Comic Book Resources

Shazad Latif

• by John Orquiola

• by Rachel Hulshult

• by Agency News Desk

More to explore

Recently viewed.

‘Profile’ Review: Timur Bekmambetov’s Lurid Online Terrorist Thriller

The all-online gimmick of 'Unfriended' gets a terrorist twist in Timur Bekmambetov's silly but absorbing age-of-ISIS thriller.

By Guy Lodge

Film Critic

• ‘Starve Acre’ Review: Formidably Freaky New Slab of British Folk Horror Goes Deeper Underground 2 months ago
• ‘Dear Jassi’ Review: Tarsem Singh Dhandwar Makes a Restrained Return With a Real-Life Romeo and Juliet Tale 2 months ago
• ‘The Kitchen’ Review: Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s Impassioned Stand for Community Against Capitalism 2 months ago

Say what you will about genre-hopping Kazakh export Timur Bekmambetov : His career keeps you guessing, even when his films don’t. Rarely has a director’s filmography threaded two films as improbably consecutive as 2016’s misguided “Ben-Hur” remake and now “ Profile ,” a fast, lurid online-terror thriller that you’d describe as a curio if its helmer weren’t hell-bent on making the all-in-one-computer-screen movie a veritable subgenre.

Unlike the Bekmambetov-produced tension exercises “Unfriended” and “Search,” however, “Profile” aims for ripped-from-the-headlines social import, as it follows an intrepid but increasingly ill-advised London journalist in her quest to bait and expose an ISIS recruiter through Skype and social media. Loosely drawn from the experiences of French reporter Anna Erelle, this is an undeniably engrossing but almost entirely specious affair: Any factual grounding gives way beneath the film as it devolves into shrill heart-versus-head melodrama.

After the rather raggedly synthetic-looking “Ben-Hur” failed to fill the big screen with spectacle even remotely equivalent to its 1959 predecessor, perhaps Bekmambetov was wise to set his sights smaller: “Profile,” which has no credited director of photography, certainly boasts more convincing CGI, if that term can be applied to the film’s shuffling set of digital interfaces and applications, from FaceTime to YouTube to iTunes — the latter providing a sporadic score of ambient soundtrack cues with increasingly amusing implausibility.

All the action, seemingly spanning a period of several weeks, thus plays out on the laptop of 30-something Amy Whittaker (Irish actress Valene Kane, giving it her all), a struggling, perma-stressed freelance journo pitching a potentially career-making story to hard-nosed TV news editor Vick (Christine Adams). With reports piling up of disaffected young European women being recruited into ISIS via assorted online platforms, Amy resolves to create a new online identity as a naive Muslim convert, dangling herself on Facebook as jihadist bait, uncovering the terrorist organization’s recruitment and enslavement tactics in the process.

It’s a suitably hooky prospect, and before long Amy is hitting up the internet for video tutorials on hijab-wrapping and age-concealing makeup techniques — though that seems to be the full extent of her research. If the technical environment of “Profile” is authentically rendered, with its relentless, eye-tiring skipping between programs and pop-up video calls, its grasp on journalistic practice is markedly less convincing, as Amy and Vick hurtle into this dangerous project with minimal, monosyllabic preparation and discussion. The familiar sound effects of BBC News are faintly heard in the background of one of Vick’s curt messages, but you could just as easily believe that Amy has secured this scoop for Babe.net.

Perhaps there’s a degree of cynical news-world satire in the antsy screenplay by Bekmambetov, Brittany Poulton and Olga Kharina, but Amy’s own scattershot lack of caution still strains credibility when, seemingly after mere minutes of posing as soft-spoken 19-year-old “Mellody” as Facebook, she catches the attention of Bilel (the promising Shazad Latif), a handsome, British, plainly psychotic ISIS hotshot whose own social media brand is a winning mix of cat GIFs and decapitation videos. Soon, assisted by Muslim IT assistant Lou (Amir Rahimzadeh), she’s recording her frequent video chats with the Kalashnikov-brandishing monster, which swiftly take a turn for the seductive — all while she’s fending off impatient inquiries from her understandably bewildered boyfriend Matt (Morgan Watkins) and morbidly intrigued BFF Kathy (Emma Cater).

So far so nervily compelling, but once Amy begins secretly cutting Lou out of her growingly intimate exchanges with Bilel, seemingly falling for his calculated patter of sweet talk and sob stories, “Profile” takes a turn into irretrievably loopy territory that no amount of “based on a true story” claims can dignify. Taken on those renegotiated terms, “Profile” remains effective as a nerve-jangling genre teacup ride, directed by Bekmambetov with gaudy whipcrack restlessness.

The tab containing any meaningful insights into the nature of modern-day terrorism and the ethical lines of media coverage, however, is rarely clicked on. “It’s the fear that is killing us… THE FEAR!” Amy types at one point to her increasingly wary editor, who by this point is probably contemplating a kill fee in more ways than one. Bekmambetov’s cumulatively hysterical film begins as a study of terror before lurching into something closer to horror: Suddenly a mash-up of the online universes of “Profile” and “Unfriended,” in which neither one can be taken more seriously than the other, starts to make a lot of sense.

Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival (Panorama Special), Feb. 17, 2018. Running time: 105 MIN.

• Production: (U.S.-U.K.-Cyprus-Russia) A Bazelevs Entertainment production. (International sales: Endeavor Content, Los Angeles.) Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Olga Kharina. Executive producers: Adam Sidman, Rick Sobalvarro, Igor Tsay, Maria Zatulovskaya.
• Crew: Director: Timur Bekmambetov. Screenplay: Bekmambetov, Brittany Poulton, Olga Kharina, adapted from the book "In the Skin of a Jihadist" by Anna Erelle. Editor: Andrey Shugaev.
• With: Valene Kane, Shazad Latif , Morgan Watkins, Amir Rahimzadeh, Emma Cater. (English, Arabic dialogue)

More From Our Brands

Usher closes out 100-show las vegas residency in tears, this new film about dior’s fragrance maestro is a must-watch for scent lovers, shane battier joins pe firm garnett station as senior advisor, the best fitness sales to shop during amazon’s prime big deal days event, barbie sets max streaming date — with asl version available, verify it's you, please log in.

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Explaining the News to Our Kids

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Honoring Indigenous Heritage Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Personalized picks at your fingertips

Get the mobile app on iOS and Android

Common Sense Media Reviewers

Riveting fact-based thriller has war violence, smoking.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Cautionary tale about dangers that can lurk online

Amy is brave, quick-thinking, tenacious. She follo

ISIS propaganda videos of terrorist actions includ

Plot focuses on a somewhat romantic plot. Photos o

Strong language includes "bulls--t" and "f--k."

Brands associated with online technology are used,

Amy smokes frequently and drinks occasionally, wit

Parents need to know that Profile is a fact-based thriller about a journalist named Amy (Valene Kane) who goes undercover as a potential bride for a radicalized terrorist. The whole film takes place on what appears to be Amy's computer; she uses Facebook, Skype, YouTube, and Google for her online…

Positive Messages

Cautionary tale about dangers that can lurk online, how easy it can be to be radicalized. Themes of courage and curiosity.

Positive Role Models

Amy is brave, quick-thinking, tenacious. She follows her curiosity, although she also takes some foolish actions and puts herself in grave danger. Ethnic diversity among Amy's co-workers. Focus on extreme/radical elements of Muslim culture.

Violence & Scariness

ISIS propaganda videos of terrorist actions including explosions, gunfire, implied beheadings (no blood or gore). Large guns are carried and fired to demonstrate being cool and powerful. Children are shown in intense peril, with implication that they likely died. Blurry videos of a stoning.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Plot focuses on a somewhat romantic plot. Photos of women in lingerie, one of which partially exposes a breast. Discussion that a woman must be a virgin (also referred to as "pure").

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Brands associated with online technology are used, including Skype, Google, and Facebook.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Amy smokes frequently and drinks occasionally, with no consequences.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Profile is a fact-based thriller about a journalist named Amy (Valene Kane) who goes undercover as a potential bride for a radicalized terrorist. The whole film takes place on what appears to be Amy's computer; she uses Facebook, Skype, YouTube, and Google for her online communication and research, including learning more about Muslim culture. One of the film's main messages is that everyone is just a few clicks away from danger online. Clips of violent, ISIS propaganda-like videos are shown throughout the movie, with glimpses of hostages about to be beheaded, as well as heavy artillery, warfare, and children talking to the camera who appear to be hit in an explosion. The images create anxiety, but nothing bloody or gory happens on camera. Giant guns are toted, fired, and swung around like a fashion accessory. Amy's target/contact is attractive and charismatic, and their relationship seems to build authentically: It's meant to show how easily it could be to be sucked into radicalized communities, so make sure to talk with teens about which behaviors were actually recruitment techniques. Expect to see images of women in lingerie and hear/read discussions about "purity." Strong language includes "bulls--t" and "f--k," and Amy both smokes and drinks. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

It's 2014, and scrappy British journalist Amy Whittaker (Valene Kane) accepts an assignment investigating how the so-called Islamic State is recruiting European teen girls. Going undercover online as a recent Muslim convert named Melody, Amy's fictional PROFILE immediately attracts Bilel (Shazad Latif), and they start communicating through Skype. Bilel is disarmingly charismatic, and the more time Amy spends with him to get to the truth, the more their fake relationship begins to feel very real.

Is It Any Good?

Chillingly terrifying, Amy's gradual induction into the terrorist organization she's trying to infiltrate is absolutely unforgettable. For anyone -- especialy teens -- who think they're in control online, it's a warning that even when all of your wits are about you and your critical mind is on overdrive, emotions can be overpowering. Bilel brags about kills and his role in expanding his group's territory, justifying his actions through his faith and his belief that he's righting wrongs. At the same time, he shows a softer and more playful side to Amy (as Melody) and shares stories of racist slights and family loss that help her (and viewers) see his humanity.

Director Timur Bekmambetov employs the screenlife format previously used in the horror film Unfriended and thriller Searching , telling the movie's whole story through one character's computer screen. Spending nearly two hours staring at a laptop screen may feel a bit exhuasting if you're Zoomed out. But the format lends itself to terror: Bekmambetov plays with viewers' anxieties around how easy it can be to slip up when we communicate through cameras on computers. Viewers may well wring their hands when "Melody" Skypes with Bilel while simultaneously carrying on real-life activities, like texting with her actual boyfriend, sending photos back and forth with friends, and taking calls from colleagues. Will she make a mistake? Will he see her screen? Knowing that this dangerous digital cat-and-mouse game actually happened magnifies audiences' reactions. And as more clues start making you wonder just who's clicking through Amy's files, terror may strike your heart: Is she safe? The real journalist Amy is based on put herself into harm's way to try to help teen girls, and the lessons learned from her investigation will hopefully be useful in avoiding radical online predators of any stripe.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Profile and how it compares to that of other films you've seen. How are viewers led to believe they're seeing more violence on camera than they actually are?

What does the movie have to say about digital communities and staying safe online ?

Is Profile more powerful because you know it's based on a true story? Or would it be just as effective as a fully fictional thriller? Do you think the "screenlife" format that it uses works to build suspense? Screenlife has primarily been used in thriller and horror films. Can you imagine it working for a comedy? An action film?

Do you think Amy is brave? Why are courage and curiosity important traits for an investigative journalist? Do you think those are important characteristics for all of us?

Discuss the techniques that Bilel uses to create a relationship with Melody (e.g., calling at the same time every day, sharing stories about vulnerable moments, etc.). What makes them effective?

Movie Details

• In theaters : May 14, 2021
• On DVD or streaming : August 10, 2021
• Cast : Valene Kane , Shazad Latif , Christine Adams
• Director : Timur Bekmambetov
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
• Studio : Focus Features
• Genre : Thriller
• Character Strengths : Courage , Curiosity
• Run time : 105 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : language throughout and some disturbing images
• Last updated : October 8, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

A Private War

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

City of Ghosts

On Her Shoulders

Thriller movies, spy movies for kids, related topics.

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

• Australia edition
• International edition
• Europe edition

Profile review – Skyping-with-Isis thriller dials up the suspense

Timur Bekmambetov’s film about a journalist investigating women online being lured to Syria is silly but effective

C inema is currently deciding how it meets the challenge of representing the way modern life and modern experience is increasingly happening online. The recent supernatural horror-thriller Unfriended had the ingenious idea of playing out its entire drama on one computer screen in real time, a kind of found-footage 2.0, switching between Facebook, Skype and instant messaging, the various prompts all bleeping and pinging away disturbingly as a sinister presence looms up. Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (who went to Hollywood in the last decade for brash and crass movies such as Wanted ) has applied this approach to a thriller that asks the eternal question: what happens when cops or reporters with unsatisfactory home lives go undercover among people who actually treat them rather well?

Profile is based on the 2015 non-fiction bestseller In the Skin of a Jihadist by a French journalist who now has round-the-clock police protection and has changed her name to Anna Erelle. She was investigating the phenomenon of young European women being radicalised online and lured to Syria; Erelle created a fake profile on Facebook and began chatting to a senior Islamic State commander who then tried to lure her over, repeatedly promising her that she would be his “bride”. A very dangerous game.

Bekmambetov makes this journalist British. Amy (Valene Kane) has a rather quaintly imagined hectic private life – freelance career, money worries, devoted but dull boyfriend and insensitive boss. These people have to speak on Skype all the time so the relationship can play out on her laptop screen that we all see. It is contrived but it does hang together, just about, although Bekmambetov cheats it a little with speeded-up “time passing” sequences. Amy calls herself “Melody” for her story, wears a hijab and uses heavy makeup for her Skype chats with her Isis pursuer, who calls himself Abu Bilel, well played by Shazad Latif.

In the real world, Erelle finally agreed to the jihadist-seducer’s incessant demands for her to come to Syria . However, she had a photographer secretly in tow, planning only to get as far as Turkey to get a dramatic still image of her gazing across the border. But things got very scary and she bailed out.

Now, this central crisis – actually leaving the relative safety of the computer screen – is an important part of Bekmambetov’s fictionalised movie version. But there are no prizes for guessing why his Amy felt the need to go out to meet Bilel, and get as far as Amsterdam, before the terrifying situation revealed itself. What’s the point of a fictional undercover reporter who doesn’t feel the temptation to go native?

This approach is a little bit silly – there is nothing much in the script or performance to convince us that Amy really could be falling for Bilel or becoming discontented with her secular life in the west. And there is an uneasy and unconvincing transition when Amy at first paranoiacally refuses to work with the tech support guy helping her record the Skype conversations, because he has a Syrian background. She actually asks for someone else; her editor appears to agree – but then this same person reappears in the next scene, and becomes her regular liaison. The change of heart is not plausibly managed in the script.

And yet … the conversations between Amy and Bilel are capably performed, and there is a fair bit of suspense as we wonder if Amy’s cover is going to be blown. The simple spectacle of those browser screens, with all their mendacious social-media images, is very disturbing when made to work as part of a movie drama about deception – just as in Unfriended. However, that film took things to a different level of eerie disquiet on the question of identity and real presence. Profile is a pretty conventional thriller with pretty conventional stereotypes.

• Berlin film festival 2018
• Berlin film festival
• Islamic State
• Drama films

comments (…)

Most viewed.

Profile Movie Review: An Intense, Chilling, & Straight Up Terrifying Film

By: Author Tessa Smith

Posted on Last updated: August 10, 2021

Perhaps because it is based on a true story, Profile is a bone-chilling movie that will have viewers on the edge of their seats throughout.

Intense and bone-chilling are two of the best words to describe the movie Profile. What starts off slow, but intriguing, becomes one of those movies that will have you yelling at your TV screen and wishing you could shake the character involved. The scariest part of it is that this is based on a true story, and this is a real problem. Young women and teenagers are being seduced by men on the internet and go overseas thinking they will be married but are either recruited into ISIS or sex slavery — or both.

In Profile a journalist named Amy Whittaker who is working on a story about how ISIS recruits young women from Europe. She creates a fake Facebook profile and pretends to be a young convert, almost immediately she is contacted by a recruit, Bilel, and the two start talking. 

When she started this story she was planning on moving in with her long time boyfriend, and was often talking with her best friend Kathy. As the movie goes on, she is more and more sucked into this life of her alter ego Melody, telling herself it is so that she can finish the story but it seems there is something more there.

The style of Profile seemed like something that was going to get more and more frustrating to watch, however it was easy enough to settle in after the first 30 minutes or so felt natural. What I mean of course is the fact that we are watching the story be told through a computer screen. Amy is recording most of the interactions with Bilel on her laptop screen, and viewers watch as she takes notes, translates words, and stays in contact with her boyfriend and best friend — all through her computer.

The audience gets to know her through her chat messages and video calls, and it is easy enough to relate to her. There are some scary things on the internet and her job is to expose them, no matter the cost. Part of what makes this movie so thrilling is that we see her getting deeper and deeper into this undercover story and doing foolish things that are sure to come back and bite her in the butt. 

While there are some pacing issues in the middle, and the movie could have easily knocked off 15 minutes or so, the story being told is an important one. These things really happen and exposing just how is a great first step toward stopping it. 

The third act of the movie is absolutely terrifying, as well as difficult to watch. This is all on purpose of course, but it does feel like it loses its way on the road to get there. Fortunately it comes all together in the end to tell the story, even though it is an unsettling one.

Profile is an intense, edge-of-your-seat movie that gets more and more frustrating as it goes on — but you just can’t look away. Instead you just scream and scream at your TV, like Amy can actually hear you. 

About Profile

Inspired by true events, PROFILE follows an undercover British journalist on her quest to bait and expose a terrorist recruiter through social media, while trying not to be sucked in by her recruiter and lured into becoming a militant extremist herself. The unconventional thriller plays out entirely on a computer screen in the screen life format, directed by Timur Bekmambetov.

Profile is available to take home today.

You Might Also Enjoy...

Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for almost ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association, Hollywood Critics Association, and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.