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Parents' Guide to

The Usual Suspects

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Profane, violent crime thriller has novel twists.

Movie R 1995 106 minutes
The Usual Suspects Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

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age 14+

Based on 4 parent reviews

Bobby G.
Bobby G. Parent of 10-year-old
September 21, 2020
age 13+

The twist makes the movie

There are a few well done scenes here and there, but this is mostly a very dull and uninteresting film that no one would remember or hold in a high regard if it didn’t have that twist at the end.
RenataAnsaca
RenataAnsaca Adult
March 23, 2012
age 13+

Loved it!!

Usual Suspects is my favorite movie by a long shot, and has been since the moment I first sat down to watch it. True, there's a certain amound of drugs and violence, but once you watch the movie you realize [SPOILER] how little of it actually happened in the plot versus how much Verbal Kint made up on the spot. Keyser Soze may have never been in Turkey, he may have never even had a wife to be raped, he might not have ever been involved in narcotics, and the five criminals may have never even gone to california and killed those people in the dope deal. By the end of the movie you know so much less than you think you do about the plot. So technically, there were never any narcotics, rape, murder, mafia-like cults... it was just one guy making up stories to tell the police. Sure that's a bad message for kids, encouraging dishonesty, but the movie itself has so many subtle details that it can only help your kids' mental maturity by trying to figure out just what is real and what isn't. It inspired my daughter to do her own independant research about the basis of the movie! She found out that "Keyser Soze" is Turkish for "King Blabbermouth" which is oddly like Verbal Kint, eh? I've never seen my daughter get so passionate about anything, and any movie that can bring out such fervid excitement in a 13-year-old is great by me.
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What's the Story?

A favorite "guy movie" for its cool crook-talk dialog (filled with swearing) and breathtaking twist at the end, THE USUAL SUSPECTS starts with the finale of a mass-murder/explosion on board a boat in San Pedro, California. Flashbacks and divergent timelines -- and it is rather confusing at first -- fill in the story, as a police detective questions one of the few survivors, a crippled, wimpy con-artist named Verbal (Kevin Spacey). He claims that he and the dead men were all part of an outlaw band centered on Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), a former New York City cop turned career criminal. Lured to the West Coast for a job, the victims were told they had offended a legendary international outlaw named Keyser Soze, a figure so shadowy he may or may not even exist, and much unsolved malice and mayhem surrounds him. The police are skeptical that nervous, rabbity Verbal could possibly be involved with Keyser Soze, let alone survive a close encounter. But then...

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (36 ):

This is a transfixing, convoluted film noir thriller that forces you to think through events. Though it's a story without any "good" guys, in most any sense (one female character, who seems to represent possible redemption, is very marginal and gets coldly killed off-screen), you'll likely want to watch it a second time to see where the filmmakers and their narrative fooled you. That said, it does paint a picture of a pretty violent world, and the degree to which there's any philosophy or morality at work comes from Verbal Klint, who observes that Keyser Soze succeeds because he's willing to go farther and be meaner than other gangsters, and that, moreover, he's like the devil, "whose greatest trick was convincing the world that he didn't exist."

The mythic Soze works his ruthless will through unwitting dupes and hirelings, always staying in the background -- not unlike Voldemort from the Harry Potter tales. Unlike Potter, though, profanity is so thick here you'd swear the ship blows up at the start because of the heavy concentration of f-bombs.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why The Usual Suspects is so popular. Did you see the trick ending coming? Do you want to watch it a second time, knowing how it comes out?

  • What does the film say about the criminal mindset and power? "Keyser Soze," is the all-powerful crime lord who may not really exist and who is feared like an underworld boogeyman. Can you think of real-life parallels in the realms of the Mafia and international terrorism?

  • You could use this movie to turn kids onto tricky crime thrillers of yesteryear, going all the way back to The Maltese Falcon, Kiss Me Deadly, The Lady from Shanghai, and The Big Sleep (which didn't have to swear to hold viewers spellbound).

Movie Details

  • In theaters: August 16, 1995
  • On DVD or streaming: April 2, 2002
  • Cast: Benicio Del Toro , Gabriel Byrne , Stephen Baldwin
  • Director: Bryan Singer
  • Inclusion Information: Bisexual directors, Latino actors
  • Studio: MGM/UA
  • Genre: Thriller
  • Run time: 106 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: violence and a substantial amount of strong language
  • Last updated: November 5, 2023

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