Parents' Guide to

Mississippi Grind

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Excellent, edgy character study about gambling, friendship.

Movie R 2015 108 minutes
Mississippi Grind Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

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age 14+

Based on 1 parent review

A Caring Mother
A Caring Mother Parent of 18-year-old
May 10, 2019
age 14+

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much consumerism
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn), a down-and-out gambler, can't seem to keep his head above water; he's divorced, with a daughter he never sees, and he's in trouble with money lenders. At a card game, he meets scrappy, fast-talking Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) and they become fast friends. Gerry discovers that, with Curtis at his side, he starts winning. So he suggests a gambling road trip to raise enough cash to clear his debts. At first, things seem to go well, but it turns out Curtis has some issues of his own to work through, and eventually Gerry falls into some of his old habits. After a devastating loss, the men must find out whether their friendship is worth hanging onto.

Is It Any Good?

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

This could have been an ordinary road trip/gambling movie, but instead it deals with human frailties, behavior, and desires; it offers layered characters, operating in a vivid world. The co-writer/co-director team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Sugar, It's Kind of a Funny Story) are great humanists who seem to care less about narrative flow than they do about organic characters. As a result, the characters they create are rich creations, with intriguing surfaces and complex inner workings.

Reynolds and Mendelsohn rise to their best ability here -- especially the latter, a great character actor who lands a rare leading role here (he usually plays lowlifes and bad guys). Tiny roles are filled out by strong presences like Alfre Woodard and James Toback, and Sienna Miller and Analeigh Tipton are excellent as a couple of hostesses. The filmmakers also take time to immerse the characters in a vivid atmosphere (Memphis, New Orleans, etc.), all in all making for a very satisfying ride.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Mississippi Grind's scenes of violence. Are they necessary to the story to demonstrate the downfalls of gambling? How did they make you feel?

  • Does the movie glamorize gambling? What are the positives and negatives of gambling?

  • Characters drink a lot of bourbon in this movie. What's the appeal? Do they get overdo it? Are there realistic consequences? How much smoking is shown? Does the movie make it look appealing?

  • Even though Gerry does some very bad things, do you still like him? Why?

Movie Details

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