Parents' Guide to Shifty

Movie NR 2017 85 minutes
Shifty movie poster: A young White male and a young Asian male sit against a yellow backdrop

Common Sense Media Review

Tom Cassidy By Tom Cassidy , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 15+

British crime thriller has drug use, violence, language.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Shifty Trailer
  • Shifty: A young White male and a young Asian male sit on a couch during a drug deal
  • Shifty: A young White male and a young Asian male in an underpass
  • Shifty: A young White woman with a scar on her face

Parent and Kid Reviews

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What's the Story?

Chris (Daniel Mays) returns from Manchester to find his friend SHIFTY (Riz Ahmed)—a young London drug dealer— has progressed to selling crack cocaine. Chris tries to warn him it will lead to trouble, but the warning may have come too late.

Is It Any Good?

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

This gritty British crime thriller, set over the course of 24 hours, was filmed in just 18 days. Shifty takes a nonjudgmental approach to people experiencing addiction and to the dealers enjoying a lifestyle that their criminal activities bring them. By treating both groups sympathetically, the inevitable decline for both hits harder when the characters run into trouble, and the movie manages to avoid running into pitfalls of glorifying drug use and dealing. Ahmed and Mays carry the movie with ease as young men in difficult circumstances—Mays' Chris the moral conscience to Ahmed's Shifty, a man whose life of crime begins to spiral when his supplier (Jason Flemyng) turns against him. It's a gripping ride throughout its relatively short 85-minute run time.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how Shifty depicted drug dealing and drug use. Why do you think Shifty dealt drugs? Did the film glamorize drugs? Why, or why not, and why does that matter? What are some of the dangers of drug use?

  • Discuss the strong and racist language used in the movie. Did it seem necessary, or excessive? What did it contribute to the movie? Is a certain level of language expected in a film like this?

  • Talk about the film's violence. Did the violent scenes help tell the story in an effective way? Was it shocking, or thrilling? Why? Does exposure to violent media desensitize kids to violence?

Movie Details

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Shifty movie poster: A young White male and a young Asian male sit against a yellow backdrop

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