Playing with Fire | 2019 | PG | – 2.4.1

Why is “Playing with Fire” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “rude humor, some suggestive material and mild peril.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a kissing scene, a few flirting scenes and some shirtless male scenes and cleavage revealing outfits; a few fire scenes that show people trapped by flames before rescue, a chase on an ATV that ends with a man being struck and thrown, an accident in a car that nearly pulls two children over a drop-off, and several scenes played for laughs with water spraying, fire extinguishers spraying, flare guns shooting and peanut butter smearing; and some exclamations. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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When a by-the-book elite smokejumper station commander (John Cena) rescues three children from a raging blaze, he’s tasked, along with his crew, with caring for them until their parents can be located. Because disorder makes him uncomfortable and the kids are rambunctious, he must figure out a way to keep them safe while also avoiding the destruction of his station. Also with Judy Greer, Keegan-Michael Key, Brianna Hildebrand, Tyler Mane, John Leguizamo, Dennis Haysbert, Christian Convery, Shelby Wulfert and Finley Rose Slater. Directed by Andy Fickman. [Running Time: 1:36]

Playing with Fire SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A man and a woman kiss. A woman at a fire scene tells a firefighter that she wants to go with him while being lifted into the air by a cable attached to a helicopter; her husband is standing next to her and is upset. A man and a woman flirt. A man describes going on dates with a woman as “sitting together for chow” and we hear that he left halfway through a date. A young girl tells a man, “Kiss her.”
► Two men dance and thrust their hips.
► A poster on a wall in a bunkroom shows a woman from the back wearing only underwear that reveals her bare back and legs to the hips. A man removes his shirt in a couple of scenes and we see his bare chest abdomen and back. A man showers and we see his abdomen and side. A man tears a T-shirt off and we see his chest and abdomen. A woman wears a gown that reveals cleavage and bare back. A teen girl wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage.

Playing with Fire VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A helicopter flies over a cabin engulfed in flames and a smokejumper drops from a cable into the structure to look for people inside: we see three children hiding under a table and the man holds them and they are lifted into the helicopter safely as the roof of the structure collapses. A helicopter flies over a forest fire and several men parachute into the burning area where we see cars lined up on a road with fires burning on either side of them, and a flaming tree limb falls toward a man and another man catches it; a plane drops fire retardant on the area and the fire is abated (a couple of firefighters are shown splattered with pink liquid). A teenage girl steals a Humvee and speeds along a road, and drives off the road and skids to a stop with the vehicle teetering over the edge of a high drop-off; a man parachutes to the site and ties a rope to a boy that has gone back to the vehicle to try to help the teen stuck inside, the vehicle falls over the edge and the man holds the rope as he is pulled toward the edge and the children climb back up to safety.
► Three children ride an ATV through a forest and a man chases on a small bicycle; he cuts them off and they hit him with the ATV throwing him in the air (he is OK); the ATV then rolls along a pier and into water as the four people watch. A young girl shoots a nail gun several times and a man dodges the nails each time. A boy shoots two flare guns in a fire station and they ricochet off the walls; three men dodge the flares and one falls to the floor and we see his pant leg on fire until a man sprays him with a fire extinguisher (the man is unharmed but we see him covered with fire retardant dust). Turbine oil is dumped all over the ground outside a fire station and three men slip and slide on it, falling several times. When an order is misunderstood, a man attached to a cable is yanked up to the ceiling of a cabin several times and then slammed back to the floor each time (no injuries are seen). A man accidentally touches a hot metal chimney from a wood burning stove and yelps. A birthday cake bursts into flames and a man sprays it with a fire extinguisher. A boy at a fire scene runs toward a firefighter to thank him and the boy slams into the side of a van and falls back on the ground (we do not see injuries). A man trips over a firehose and falls hard on the floor (there are no injuries). A boy shoots a fire extinguisher and powder and foam spray all around. A boy eats peanut butter with his hands from a jar and smears the butter on the door of a truck, he uses a tool to wipe it off and the paint is scraped off, he then spills a solvent on the floor, climbs a shelving unit that falls to the floor spilling soap powder and when he turns on water to clean it up, he is thrown around the room on the firehose that he holds as bubbles rise from the soap. A young girl pours a cup of water on a man’s face as he lies in bed, he sits up quickly hitting his head on the upper bunk and the bed collapses (he is unharmed but he yells). A young girl pours a cup of “tea” for a dog and a man and the dog whimpers and leaves the room as the man lights the liquid in his cup with a lighter and drinks it down like a shot of liquor; he burps and blows out a smoke ring. We hear what we think is a bear in the woods until a dog runs out of the brush. A man cuts a jalapeno pepper, touches his lips and his eyes and yells from the pain. A man squirts lighter fluid on a grill and a man sprays a fire extinguisher on the flames that blow up out of the grill covering the man with white powder. A man drags a large axe on the floor and walks like a zombie to scare a customer in a store; the customer runs away. A man slams a box closed on a woman’s hand and she yells, “Ow” (no injuries occur). People play dodgeball and throw balls at each other; a man throws a ball that hits a young girl in the face and she falls back on the floor; another man becomes angry and pelts the first man hard with a ball slamming him against a wall (there are no injuries).
► A woman yells at a man for taking water from a lake that is a protected environment for a type of toad. A woman yells at a man for asking her to babysit three children “Because she’s a woman.” A man yells at four men that leave a fire jumping station to go to another station. A man yells at another man on a helicopter when orders are misunderstood. A man yells at three children and tells them to be obedient. A man becomes annoyed with a teenage girl when she talks back to him and another man and is sarcastic. A young girl cries and yells in a few scenes and a man becomes agitated by the noise. A boy slaps a man in the face and yells at him when the man panics about people being trapped in a fire (they are in a simulator with flames burning around them).
► A teenage girl talks about her parents dying two years earlier and that she and her siblings ran away from foster car because they were going to separate them. A man talks about his parents dying when he was young. A man talks about another man’s father having died in a fire and says that he “…burned to a crisp.” A man carries a fire axe with him throughout the movie and his nickname is “Axe.” A man growls in several scenes (he does not speak). A man searches on his computer for “Is it bad if you’ve never cried?” A man cries when he thinks another man is falling in love with a woman and won’t need him anymore.
► A man puts on a full firefighter suit on before changing a young girl’s diaper and complains that he can still smell the odor; he reaches for her and we see the inside of his mask coated with feces and more on his sleeve as he gags and coughs (we see him showering and scrubbing himself with a large brush). A young girl flatulates and a man recoils from the odor; another man then reacts to the aroma and they take the child to change her. A dog urinates in a man’s boot (we see the stream). A man sniffs another man’s beard when he says that it still smells from a fire (the second man seems uncomfortable). A dog is shown with slobber on its mouth in several scenes. A man says, “Nature calls” and he goes into the woods with a branch and brings a young girl with him because she cries when he goes away; he makes a face like he is straining and says he can’t go when she is watching. Two men gag repeatedly from the smell of a child’s diaper (they do not vomit). A dog snarls and charges toward three children until the smallest of them puts up her hand and tells it to stop and to sit; it obeys and she rubs its stomach as a man says, “The baby broke your dog.”

Playing with Fire LANGUAGE 1

 – 2 mild scatological terms, a few euphemisms for defecation, name-calling (creepy, shenanigans, oldsey timesey, malarkey, little sister, stupid, cowboy, agro, shady, terrible liar, traitor, monkey business, whiff, dude, stud), exclamations (heck, oh my gosh, slow your roll, for crying out loud, shut-up, get outta here, jeez, come on man, who cares, for Pete’s sake, blah blah blah, you gotta be kidding me). | profanity glossary |

Playing with Fire SUBSTANCE USE

 – A young girl pours a cup of “tea” for a dog and a man and the dog whimpers and leaves the room as the man lights the liquid in his cup with a lighter and drinks it down like a shot of liquor, and a man finds a bottle of liquor in a bunkroom.

Playing with Fire DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Smokejumping and firejumping, the Safe Haven Law, death of parents, foster care, adoption, imagination, sacrifice, friendship, parental pride, San Quentin, gender roles, sexism.

Playing with Fire MESSAGE

 – Caring about others is what makes life worthwhile, and caring can take many forms.