Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

Detour

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Mature thriller has interesting characters, some surprises.

Movie R 2017 90 minutes
Detour Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

See all
age 14+

Based on 1 parent review

Aliho L.
Aliho L. Adult
May 29, 2017
age 14+

Inventive

Adult action drama showing the darker sides of life experiences in a retro noir film. This movie uses spilt imaging on screen at times depicting the story's events at different periods of time to keep the viewer guessing what comes next and connecting the dots to understand the characters. Although confusing at times, it entertains. Hairpin turns and action sequences are meant to shock the viewer. Subject matter is seeded but trills keep coming. All the characters are convincing, dialogue is good and photography is excellent. Some obvious mistakes occur in the storyline especially the dead body of the step father stuffed in the truck of the Mustang. There is abolutely no way the other characters traveling in the car would not smell the decaying human body, let alone trying to get the another person ( police officer ) into the truck of the car with the dead body. There is no way two persons could even fit into the truck. This is the biggest flaw in the movie story, thusly making it not believable. Here the director and script writer failed. Altering this obvious mistake was so easy, yet ignored, causing me to give it an average rating for what could have been better rating. Movie shows drugs being use, swearing but no sex.

This title has:

Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In DETOUR, young law student Harper (Tye Sheridan) is going through a tough time. His mother is in a coma and isn't expected to live long, and his stepfather doesn't seem too concerned about her, flitting off for so-called "business trips" to Las Vegas. Drunk in a bar one night, Harper crosses paths with hoodlum Johnny Ray (Emory Cohen) and wonders what it would take to eliminate his stepfather for good. The next day, Johnny Ray and prostitute Cherry (Bel Powley) show up, ready to do the job in exchange for $20,000. From there, the story diverges into two possible paths. But it's only a matter of time before the timeline detour collides with Harper's ultimate destiny.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Hardly the first crime movie to play around with timelines (and not always successful at doing so), this thriller gets away with it due to intriguing characters, a snappy pace, and a few surprises. Written and directed by Christopher Smith (Severance, Get Santa), Detour pulls a couple of dirty little tricks that fool the audience, not necessarily in a good way, and it's sometimes confusing. Viewers will have to go back and think twice about what they've seen to make sense of it. Yet the movie is good-natured and colorful and somehow manages to avoid looking and sounding like yet another a fifth-rate Quentin Tarantino rip-off.

Instead, Detour pays tribute to classic movies, especially to another movie called Detour -- from 1946 -- which Harper watches in one scene. And the name "Harper" comes from a 1966 Paul Newman movie (Sheridan's character has a poster from it in his room). Plus, Smith casts his actors cleverly; Sheridan (The Tree of Life, Mud) is a decent everyman, and Powley (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) brings smarts to her character, while Cohen (Brooklyn) is captivatingly volatile. All in all, it's a relatively minor thriller, but has enough surprises and interesting characters to be enjoyable.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Detour's violence. Does it seem intended to shock or thrill? How did it make you feel? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

  • How does the movie handle sex? Are women objectified? Is sex portrayed as romantic or otherwise? What message does that send?

  • What are the consequences of drinking and drugs? Does the movie glamorize substance use? Why does that matter?

  • How did you feel about the movie's alternative timeline?

  • What's the appeal of movies about criminals?

Movie Details

  • In theaters: January 20, 2017
  • On DVD or streaming: April 25, 2017
  • Cast: Tye Sheridan , Bel Powley , Emory Cohen
  • Director: Christopher Smith
  • Inclusion Information: Female actors
  • Studio: Magnet Releasing
  • Genre: Thriller
  • Run time: 90 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: some strong violence, sexual content, nudity, drug use, and language throughout
  • Last updated: July 28, 2023

Inclusion information powered by

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.

See all recommended movie lists

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.

See how we rate