The Boys in the Boat | 2023 | PG-13 | – 3.2.4

Why is “The Boys in the Boat” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language and smoking.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, a few kissing scenes, flirting scenes, a few arguments, several training sequences, discussions of abandonment and having nothing, scenes of people trying to survive the Great Depression, several arguments, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Set in the 1930s, and based on the story of the Washington Huskies JV rowing team, that went against all odds to compete for a place on the US Olympic team for the 1936 Berlin games. With Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Peter Guinness, Sam Strike, Thomas Elms, Jack Mulhern, Luke Slattery, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Wil Coban, Tom Varey, Joel Phillimore, James Wolk, Hadley Robinson, Courtney Henggeler, Chris Diamantopoulos, Glenn Wrage, Edward Baker-Duly and Adrian Lukis. Directed by George Clooney. [Running Time: 2:03]

The Boys in the Boat SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A wife wearing a robe and nightgown invites her husband to join her in bed and drops her robe as she leaves (cleavage and bare shoulders are visible briefly); the man follows her and sex is implied.
► A young man and a young woman kiss passionately at a train station. A young man and a young woman lie in bed together embracing (both are fully clothed). Two young women ask two young men to “go someplace quiet” and they leave a dance to be alone; one young woman takes a young man to her dorm, where he is told that he is not allowed to be there, but they go to her room where she changes her clothes (she hides behind a closet door and we see her bare shoulder and bra strap briefly).
► A young woman caresses a young man’s hair and kisses him tenderly. A young woman kisses a young man on the cheek. A young woman touches a young man’s hand tenderly while he sleeps on a library table. A young man and a young woman sit closely together in a rowboat and he touches her hand on the oar.
► A young woman flirts with a young man and reminds him of a crush he had on her when they were younger; he seems embarrassed. A young man and a young woman glance at each other flirtatiously in a lecture hall in a few scenes. A young man throws pebbles at a young woman’s dorm window and asks her to come out for a boat ride at night (she joins him).
► Young men are seen in a locker room showering and we see their bare shoulders and upper chest. Young women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in a few scenes. Young men are shown shirtless while rowing in a few scenes (we see their bare shoulders, chest and abdomens).
► A young man says of a young woman, “She’s a looker.” A young woman tells a young man that she is in love with him; he is distracted and doesn’t reply.

The Boys in the Boat VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – A young man calls another young man a disparaging name and the second young man lunges at him until others separate them. A woman yells and pounds on the door of a young woman in a dorm room accusing her of having a young man in her room and the young man climbs out the window and drops to the ground below uninjured.
► We see flags with swastikas lining the streets in Berlin. Crowds of people salute Adolf Hitler and chant for Germany in a few scenes. Adolf Hitler storms off a viewing stand after a race concludes. A gun is fired into the air to start a regatta.
► A young man is shown living in a wrecked car with little to no money for food. A young man stuffs a newspaper in his shoe to cover a hole in the sole. People are shown living in squalor in a few scenes. A young man is told that the rest of his tuition is due and he has 2 weeks to pay. People talk about having nothing and refer to the Depression. Many people stand in line in a shelter where they are given bowls of soup; a young man is embarrassed to be seen by others and leaves without food.
► A young man is shown with a fever (he is sweating and says that he doesn’t feel well). Two young men seem to be in pain when they walk into a lecture hall and grunt when they sit (they have sore muscles from training). A young man is reprimanded when he snores during a lecture; the professor shines a light in his face and wakes him. Many young men are shown in several training sequences running through rough terrain and pushing themselves physically. A large crowd of young men gathers to try out for a rowing team and the coach tells them that it will test them physically and mentally. A young man is carried onto a stage by several other young men and convinced to play the piano for a crowd; he is very shy and nervous but he plays.
► A man tells a young man to get out of a boat and replaces him with another young man when the first one does not seem to be committed to the team. A man yells at another man that threatens his job. A coach yells at his rowing team in several scenes. A man threatens another man saying that funding will end if his team doesn’t win. Two men argue about two teams and who should participate in a race. A young man complains about cleaning up food halls and especially about cleaning up after girls, saying that they are the messiest. A young man talks about his father leaving him at the age of 14 to fend for himself; he also says that his mother died. A young man says that he steals from a store. A man describes the scene of whale oil as he oils the hull of a boat. A man describes a boat cutting through the water “like a knife blade.”
► A young man retches over the side of a boat (we do not see goo). A young man is shown leaning over a toilet (we do not see goo or hear retching but it is implied). A young man is shown with open blisters on his hands from rowing.

The Boys in the Boat LANGUAGE 4

 – 7 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (nasty, devastating season, little runt, beanpole, stuck-up, insane, Hobo Joe, lousy, thief, rich [anatomical term deleted]), exclamations (heck, yuck, you can’t do that, have you lost your mind), 2 religious profanities (GD), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. God, oh God, for Christ’s sake, Jesus, honest to God, a young man describes a young woman’s mother saying “she always had a Bible in her hand”). | profanity glossary |

The Boys in the Boat SUBSTANCE USE

 – Young women in a speedboat cheer and hold up bottles (it could be beer), several young men drink from bottles (it could be beer) around a campfire, people drink mugs of beer, and a man drinks a glass of whiskey. People smoke cigarettes in many scenes throughout the movie, and a young woman accuses another young woman of smoking in her room.

The Boys in the Boat DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – The sport of rowing, team work, trust, abandonment, the 1936 Olympics, the Great Depression, Adolf Hitler, the haves and the have-nots, money, fame, engineering, character, favoritism, legacies, sacrifice, underdogs, privilege, prestige, competition.

The Boys in the Boat MESSAGE

 – Working together as a team and trusting each other can beat the odds.