Parents' Guide to

Good Mourning

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

No real spark (but lots of drugs) in stoner/showbiz comedy.

Movie R 2022 93 minutes
Good Mourning Movie: Poster

A Lot or a Little?

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

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What's the Story?

In GOOD MOURNING, actor London Clash (Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly) has just wrapped his hit TV series Good Bad People and is hoping to land the lead role in the next Batman movie. Unfortunately, he wakes up to a text from his girlfriend, Apple (Becky G), which reads "I wish I didn't have to do this thru text," followed by "Good Mourning," with a "u." A confused London reads it as a possible breakup and fears the worst. With an important 5 p.m. Batman meeting looming, he decides to go to Apple's house, where one of his best friends, Leo (Gata), accidentally breaks several vases containing the ashes of Apple's family. Another of his entourage, Angel (Zach Villa), decides that the three of them -- plus Dylan (Mod Sun) and Fat Joe (Boo Johnson) -- need to smoke a whole bunch of pot to replace the lost ashes. As the day drags on, London decides that it's more important to win Apple back than to land the role, but is he making a mistake?

Is It Any Good?

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

It passes by easily enough, but without help from outside substances, this showbiz/stoner comedy doesn't really offer anything we haven't seen before and never achieves more than a mild chuckle. Written and directed by recording artists Machine Gun Kelly (going by his real name, Colson Baker) and Mod Sun, Good Mourning gives viewers a somewhat hapless, somewhat insecure hero in London Clash. Those characteristics (and his misfit group of friends) at least make him somewhat relatable. It's much harder to believe that this tall, wiry string bean would ever be considered to play Batman -- the movie doesn't seem very savvy about the inner workings of showbiz -- but maybe that's part of the joke.

The movie features several funny women, including Megan Fox (Baker's real-life partner) as someone who has little patience for the boys but can nonetheless get them out of any jam. Dove Cameron plays London's new, no-nonsense personal assistant, and Whitney Cummings is his foul-mouthed, high-powered agent. (Less funny is Jenna Boyd as London's stalker.) Everyone seems relaxed and game, but somehow Good Mourning never achieves a spark. There's no energy. The screenplay snaps together well enough, but it also feels like the product of a screenwriting class, a first effort. Outtakes during the end credits reveal that improv was encouraged (with Pete Davidson contributing the lion's share), but even those bits feel limp. A final gag involving the awful last episode of Good Bad People pretty much sums this up.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how Good Mourning depicts drug use. Is it glamorized? Are there consequences? Why is that important?

  • How are sex and sexual identity depicted? Are the topics referred to in a mature way a joking way? What's the difference?

  • Why does London Clash have to choose between love and his career?

  • Did you notice positive representation in the movie? Are non-White characters three-dimensional, with agency? Did you notice any stereotypes?

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