Parents' Guide to

Crisis

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Overwrought drug drama is dark, tense, and violent.

Movie R 2021 118 minutes
Crisis Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

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What's the Story?

Writer-director Nicholas Jarecki's drama CRISIS offers a three-pronged look at the United States' destructive -- and lucrative -- opioid epidemic. It examines the supply chain (in this case, from Canada) of illegally distributed pills, the pharmaceutical industry's quest for a non-addictive painkiller, and the toll on those who are drug-dependent in real life. The first storyline follows Jake Kahane (Armie Hammer), an undercover DEA agent who's tracking a big-time Quebecois pill distributor called "Mother" (Guy Nadon). It turns out that Jake's younger sister, Emmie (Lily-Rose Depp), is dependent on heroin, so his mission is personal. The second thread centers on Dr. Tyrone Brower (Gary Oldman), a university professor whose lab finds disturbing results about its client pharmaceutical company's new drug, a painkiller that's supposed to provide pain relief without addiction -- but, of course, it is addictive. The final protagonist is Claire Reimann (Evangeline Lilly), an architect and single mother who was formerly dependent on OxyContin; her teen son dies of an apparent overdose. Despite police findings regarding her son's death, Claire believes that his cause of death was actually murder, and she sets out to find the truth. All three central characters are on difficult, at times violent, journeys that expose how greed and profit are at the heart of the titular crisis.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Jarecki explores lots of ideas that don't quite come together in a cohesive way about a topic that's deserving of a better movie. Audiences are better off reading Dopesick and Dreamland instead. The movie seems directly influenced by Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, with interlocking stories that, here, chronicle various aspects of the legal and illegal pharmaceutical drug business and how that translates to violence and street addiction. The cast is talented, although negative publicity about Hammer's personal life might be difficult for some audiences to ignore. And Oldman is a superb actor, but here he's in such full-on yelling mode that he could rival Al Pacino. Lilly, meanwhile, has to evolve from a weeping, grieving mother into a Liam Neeson-style avenging parent.

Individually, each thread could have made a thoughtful -- and thought-provoking -- movie. Mixed all together, however, the ultimate message is overly preachy and unsatisfying. Considering that the opioid epidemic is one of the United States' most devastating and important health crises, it's understandable why Jarecki (who unnecessarily cast himself in a fairly prominent supporting role as Jake's partner) chose it. But there's a lack of nuance in Crisis, and it doesn't meet the potential of its acting ensemble or its themes.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the violence in Crisis. Why is or isn't the violence necessary to the story that the filmmaker is trying to tell? Does realistic violence impact viewers differently than stylized or fantasy violence?

  • Why is it important to discuss the opioid epidemic? Do you think the movie explains the seriousness of the issue of opioid use in the United States?

  • Which of the movie's three storylines speaks to you the most? What do you like about the multiple perspectives on the same topic?

  • Do you consider anyone in the story a role model? What character strengths do they display?

Movie Details

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