Parenthood

Characters are almost all White. One parent has a biracial Black and White son who's tokenized and is the only child whose parents have abandoned him (which feels like careless writing). A principal, in a minor role as an uncaring administrator, is a Black woman. Gender norms are largely reinforced: Dads drill math problems, complain about wives talking too much, give sons toxic dating advice: "What do you say when a cute 8-year-old girl walks by?" "Hubba hubba." Moms cook in the kitchen, talk about romance, and have babies -- but they do discuss juggling work and motherhood and have sexual drives, which adds to their complexity. Fatphobic scenes include thin women worrying about their diets. A thin woman eats junk food when upset, portrayed as self-destructive behavior. Parents have a kid who's asked to attend "special ed" by the school -- the material is handled sensitively, though it focuses on non-disabled characters rather than the child who may have a learning disability. Grandparents and a great-grandma are complex, positive characters.

A character daydreams about a school shooting with automatic gunfire and explosions, shown for comedy. Toddlers and kids frequently play with toy guns and squirt guns, some painted silver and some in bright colors. Projectile vomit. An intense drag racing scene ends in a supporting character crashing (no lasting harm). A teen vandalizes an office with a hammer. A man talks about loan sharks threatening to kill him if he doesn't pay up. Couples fight loudly; a parent hits teens with a newspaper out of frustration.

Characters kiss, make out, grope in states of undress (no nudity, but characters wear just boxers/briefs in a couple scenes). Characters hold up a buzzing vibrator and a diaphragm in different scenes, played for comedy. Teens take photos during sex (nothing sensitive is shown), get married, and have a baby. A character attempts oral sex on someone who's driving (it results in a car accident). A stripteaser shows up to a young boy's birthday party as a mix-up (she wears a low-cut bodysuit, cleavage visible). A parent finds her son's pornography collection and plays a tape (nothing sensitive shown). Characters discuss masturbation.

"S--t," "bitch," "damn," "piss," "butt-reaming a--hole," "slapping the salami," and "d--k." The term "the Oriental mind" is used by a White character.

Characters drink beer, liquor, wine -- there's an anecdote about being drunk in the past but nobody drinks to excess on-screen. References to smoking lots of "grass" in college. Characters infrequently smoke cigarettes, including indoors. Celebratory cigars are handed out by a character who rips down the "No Smoking" sign at the hospital and puffs at his cigar.

Parents need to know that Parenthood is the affecting Ron Howard dramedy that inspired TV shows by the same name, released in 1990 and 2010. It's a fairly realistic -- pumped up a bit for comedy, of course -- look at parenthood, warts and all. Characters drink socially and smoke, including a scene where someone rips down the "No Smoking" sign at a hospital and puffs on a cigar. In a daydream, a character imagines a school shooting: Automatic gunfire and explosions take place. Characters crash vehicles and argue heatedly, and kids play with toy guns. Language includes "s--t," "bitch," "a--hole," and sexual terms "d--k" and "slapping the salami." Characters are complex, and most try their best to be responsible parents through situations such as teens who get married and pregnant, or adults navigating a child who's being asked to attend "special ed" at school. Not all characters are role models, though: A White father brings back to his parents' home a biracial son (who feels tokenized in this film), and then leaves him behind. But overall, positive messages about the difficulties and joys of child-rearing are clear.

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