Boy

Some violence, but usually played for laughs and rarely graphic. Characters punch each other. Two tweens start to fight each other but it never extends beyond pushing and grappling. During imagined scenes, a character assaults a prison guard by throwing a spoon in their eye resulting in bloody injury, and in another is shown to be in battle during a war. Soldiers are seen with guns and a character brandishes a machete on several occasions. A young kid is seen with a black eye -- it's suggested it's the result of domestic violence. A fight scene is initially played like a dance routine, but with knives and chains. It's then played as an actual bar brawl with a character being thrown to the floor and stamped on. Several characters are seen with bloody injuries. Character hit over the head with a plank of wood. Later they angrily smash up a house, punching holes in the wall. A kid slaps their parent twice in the face. During a flashback, it's revealed a mother died during childbirth -- their bloody legs and sheets are seen on camera. An animated sequence depicts a school bus crashing and bursting into flames. A pet goat is hit by a car. Two kids drag it home and bury it. A dead rat is seen. Several scenes take place in a graveyard, where a parent is buried. Character falls -- or perhaps lets themselves fall -- from a bridge into a river, but survives unharmed.

Some tween and teen crushing and flirting. Parent talks crudely to their kid about sex -- "show her your d--k" and "feel her t-t." A kid lies about having sex with someone. Multiple references to French kissing and love bites ("hickeys"). Two kids are seen having a bath together.

Language includes "bulls--t," "shut up," "dork," "shat," "f--k off," "d--khead," "nuts," "bloody," "ass," "piss," "pr--ks," "pissing," "f--kers," "a--hole," "s--t," "bloody hell," "hell," "d--k," "t-t," and "arses." A white teacher refers to himself by the derogatory term "honky." Sexual slang is used, such as "rooting." Characters regularly call each other "egg," usually when they are making fun of them. A teacher makes a crass and ill-informed comment about how only gay people can get AIDS.

Characters drink beer and smoke pot, including while driving. This includes an 11-year-old who is given both by their parent. They are later seen drinking and smoking on their own. Kids are seen picking marijuana leaves on several occasions. During a party, several characters are drunk and the following morning some are seen passed out on the floor. Characters drink in a bar. One character is seen drowning their sorrows with a bottle of spirits. Characters smoke tobacco, including a teacher who smokes out of a window while teaching a class. Reference to "dope heads" and a car smelling of pot.

Parents need to know that Boy is a touching comedy drama from New Zealand, which has some strong language, occasional underage drinking, some smoking of pot by minors, and slapstick violence. Eleven-year-old Boy (James Rolleston) is reunited with his father, Alamein (Taika Waititi), when he returns home from prison. Boy commits petty crimes -- such as stealing marijuana -- in an attempt to impress Alamein, who is more interested in finding the money he buried before he went to prison. Boy also neglects his brother and cousins, who up to then he had looked after. But due to both his age and his easygoing nature, he remains likable throughout. There is both strong language -- including variants of "f--k" and "s--t" -- and occasional violence, but both are usually played for laughs. In an imagined scene, a prison guard has a spoon thrown into his eye resulting in blood spatter. In another, a bar brawl initially plays out like a dance routine, albeit with knives and chains, before Alamein is thrown to the floor and stamped on. Alamein gives Boy both beer and pot. But the only drunkenness shown is that of Alamein and his friends while at a party. There are several references to a mother dying during childbirth. In a flashback scene, the woman's bloody feet and sheets are seen. Alamein has a brief, but crude, discussion with Boy about sex. There is some tween crushing and Alamein lies to another boy about having sex with someone. While the movie touches on some serious issues, it's playful, real, and identifiable to teens and older.

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