Parents need to know that this film pushes the edges of the PG-13 rating. It features repeated crude language (including one "f--k" and several uses of the "N" word), frequent violence on and off the football field, including one character burning to death in an explosion, beatings and hard tackles, prison guards slamming their charges' heads and crotches with batons, and inmates assaulting each other. Prisoners are locked in a "hot box" as punishment. Characters drink, smoke, take steroids, and are extremely disrespectful to authorities (cops and prison officials who, according to this film, deserve disrespect). In addition, the movie includes sexual imagery (a woman's cleavage, a woman in her underwear being spanked, gaudy transvestite cheerleaders, implied homosexual activity), and gendered and raced stereotypes serving as "jokes" (an older woman in an ugly wig, a guard who takes estrogen unknowingly and starts behaving like "a girl," and hyper-aggressive black, Latino, and Indian inmates).

Families can talk about drugs, steroids, and what it takes to bond in friendship. Families can also discuss the film's depiction of a corrupt prison system and how it sets up the inmates as heroes. What is the appeal of humor based on physical and verbal abuse of characters who are "different" in some way?