Parents' Guide to Trainwreck: P.I. Moms

Movie NR 2025 45 minutes
Trainwreck: P.I. Moms movie poster: Dark-haired woman in sunglasses holds up a camera with large lens while sitting in a car

Common Sense Media Review

JK Sooja By JK Sooja , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 14+

Language, drug dealing in reality TV show production docu.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Trainwreck: P.I. Moms movie: Ami Wiltz left and Carl Marino right in split screen, each looking at camera
  • Trainwreck: P.I. Moms movie: Four women in black dresses walk toward the camera in heels and boots with the Golden Gate bridge behind them
  • Trainwreck: P.I. Moms movie: Chris Butler (center) and the P.I. Moms (encircling him) stand smiling for a picture back in 2011

Parent and Kid Reviews

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What's the Story?

In TRAINWRECK: P.I. MOMS, a group of four women, along with their boss, Chris Butler, try to make a reality television show about their work. The show was to be called P.I. Moms of San Francisco, but after a series of events that included a corrupt cop, stolen drugs, and personal vendettas, the show's production was shut down. What happened?

Is It Any Good?

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

While the score occasionally oversells what's going on, the central story of Chris Butler and his all-woman private investigator team is fascinating. Without overstaying its welcome, Trainwreck: P.I. Moms is a quickly paced and exciting retelling of this 2011-2012 story. Unfairly scapegoated and ridiculed after the show's scandal broke national news, the women involved now speak their truths and sides of the story. Certainly, they don't hold back and nor does the documentary, especially when it comes to Butler's and his associate Carl Marino's behavior. While Butler got his comeuppance, incredibly, Marino somehow completely escaped any responsibility for his actions (although this documentary might noticeably change that).

Like Butler, Marino is conspicuously not interviewed or involved in this documentary. And understandably so, as he and Butler look like amateur criminals each seeking their shots at fame and fortune. That being said, given that one half of that "team" (Marino) "gets away with it," maybe they weren't so amateurish after all. Still, houses of cards usually topple eventually, and by giving the floor to showrunner Lucas Platt and the P.I. moms so they can share their sides of what happened, after this kind of publicity, one might hold out hope for some kind of new version of P.I. Moms of San Francisco.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about reality television. How does Trainwreck: P.I. Moms portray reality television? How "real" do you think reality television is?

  • If P.I. Moms of San Francisco had gotten off the ground and aired, would you have been interested in watching it? Why or why not?

  • If a similar show were to be produced today, would you be interested?

Movie Details

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Trainwreck: P.I. Moms movie poster: Dark-haired woman in sunglasses holds up a camera with large lens while sitting in a car

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