Parents' Guide to The Knife

Movie R 2025 80 minutes
The Knife movie poster: Red-filtered blurry profile of Nnamdi Asomugha, cornered with Aja Nicole King, who plays his wife

Common Sense Media Review

Tara McNamara By Tara McNamara , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 15+

Sexy situations, pills, and F-bomb in family secrets drama.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Any Positive Content?

  • The Knife movie: Nnamdi Asomugha looks with concern around the corner of his house in the middle of the night
  • The Knife movie: A Black family of four huddles together outside their house at night talking to a police detective

Parent and Kid Reviews

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What's the Story?

In THE KNIFE, a stranger shows up at the Taylor family's new home in the middle of the night, and father/husband Chris (Nnamdi Asomugha) confronts her. When the police investigate in the hours that follow, Chris and his family members—his wife, Alex (Aja Naomi King), and their two tween-age daughters—worry that, because they're Black, telling the truth may put them in jeopardy.

Is It Any Good?

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

With cutting social commentary, star Asomugha's sharp directorial debut leaves viewers plenty to chew on in terms of discussion-worthy topics. In particular, The Knife explores how distrusting law enforcement officials and trying to avoid institutional bias may not lead to better outcomes. The movie creates a tense scenario that each viewer may interpret differently depending on their own circumstances. We meet the family in a way that makes us care about them, and then walk in their shoes, questioning what we would do in their situation while also being reminded of the justifiably tense relationship many Black people have with the police. The movie's twisty narrative is concise—it comes in at a tight 80 minutes—serving up a brief but potent helping of social commentary that's not necessarily an easy swallow.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what they think really happened in The Knife. What led Detective Carlsen to come to her conclusion?

  • The Knife's themes are about choices and consequences. Each character makes a choice that leads to a consequence—what are they? What are examples from your life when you made a choice and the consequence wasn't what you expected?

  • What do you know about systemic racism and institutional bias? How does it affect people in the real world?

  • What is integrity? Is there any instance in which you think lying is acceptable?

  • How do you feel about an ending that doesn't offer a solid conclusion? How does this film compare to other open-ended movies you've seen?

Movie Details

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The Knife movie poster: Red-filtered blurry profile of Nnamdi Asomugha, cornered with Aja Nicole King, who plays his wife

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