Summer Camp | 2024 | PG-13 | – 4.3.5

Why is “Summer Camp” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “sexual material, strong language and some underage smoking.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a kiss, a pottery class scene that involves sexual innuendo, several references to sexual activity, a few scenes of flirting, discussions of menstruation, a person shot with an arrow, a person in an ER receiving CPR, several scenes of adventurous camp activities with some falls but without injuries, several arguments, and at least 2 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A friendship between three preteen girls that started at summer camp is put to the test over time, with distractions from jobs and relationships, and one friend orchestrates a reunion many decades later, which she is hoping will bring them back together again. With Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton, Alfre Woodard, Betsy Sodaro, Beverly D’Angelo, Eugene Levy, Josh Peck and Dennis Haysbert. Directed by Castille Landon. [Running Time: 1:36]

Summer Camp SEX/NUDITY 4

 – A man and a woman use a pottery wheel to throw something out of clay and we see them making something that looks phallic; they exclaim about the squishing sounds the clay is making and the man pushes his finger into the top of the clay making a deep hole as the instructor says, “Are you ready to start drilling?” and they both laugh. A woman gives two other women vibrators and shows them how to control them using a remote control (we hear them buzzing).
► Girls yell outside a bathroom door when one girl inside the stall is taking too long; we understand that the girl inside the stall is panicked about menstruation (she says, “I think I’m dying”) and another girl enters the stall with her to calm her down, gives her a tampon and we understand that the second girl inserts the tampon for the other girl (we hear her scream from outside the stall).
► A man and a woman kiss passionately. A man holds a woman around the shoulders and places her hand on a bow as he gives her tips about shooting an arrow.
► Women spot two men arriving while making remarks about their appearance and they watch them through binoculars. A mention is made of crushes that teen girls and teen boys have on each other as they gaze at each other flirtatiously. A woman comments about another woman waiting to swoop in on another woman’s husband. A woman complains about not having been intimate with her husband in a long time. A woman asks another woman if she and a man kissed. Several comments are made about women having had cosmetic surgery. A security guard says that she wanted to conduct a strip search on three women.
► A man’s bare chest and abdomen are shown while he is receiving chest compressions in the ER (we see a little blood on his face). A woman wears low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in a few scenes. A man lifts his shirt to show a scar from an arrow and we see his partially bare abdomen. Three women wearing tight-fitting pants walk away from the camera, as a woman remarks about their apparent augmentations.

Summer Camp VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A pre-teen girl shoots an arrow and it accidentally hits a teen boy in the abdomen (we see the arrow sticking out from his abdomen and blood on his shirt). A woman performs chest compressions on a patient in an ER as she receives a phone call from her husband asking where a food item is. A man chokes on a bite of food and a woman performs the Heimlich maneuver causing him to spit the food out; the food hits another man on the back of the head and he stands up and throws a piece of food at the first man causing a food fight to break out and we see many people falling to the floor and getting covered with gloopy food. A woman rides a horse around an obstacle course and charges on a straightaway until a young man tries to stop them; the horse stops short, throwing the woman onto the ground in mud (she stands up uninjured but covered with mud).
► People ride in rafts on rapids and one woman falls off the raft and into the water; she is pulled back into the raft unharmed. People walk across planks elevated off the ground and the planks wobble as they move. A horse steps on a young man’s foot and we hear a crunch as the young man makes a pained face. People slide along zip lines and yell.
► Children at summer camp participate in adventurous activities that cause some falls and dunks in water (no injuries are evident). Girls yell outside a bathroom door when another girl inside is taking too long (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). A woman wears a balaclava pretending to be a kidnapper when she and a friend go to the friend’s office to take her on a trip. A woman stumbles when climbing a ladder to a bunk bed and falls back on the bed below where another woman is lying and they both grumble.
► Three women argue about their relationship and accuse one of the women of being controlling; they hit each other with pillows and one woman’s pillow contains her cellphone that hits her in the face (we do not see a bruise). A security guard threatens a woman with a “police-grade taser,” and the other woman threatens to shove it so far up your …” A woman yells and throws a telephone in a few scenes when she is upset that she cannot get work done. A bus crashes through a sign hanging over an entry gate. A woman bumps into a server carrying a tray of food and beverages and it spills on the floor; the server then falls on a table filled with trays of food and the table breaks and spills the food on the floor. A woman bumps into a computer monitor and knocks it onto the floor shattering the screen. A man uses a credit card to open a locked storage room door. A young man says that he accidentally set the boathouse on fire. People talk about work being a drug that is a hard habit to kick. A man says, “I had a heart attack and woke up alone.” A woman says that she dropped out of medical school because she got pregnant. A woman yells at a young man and tells him, “You aren’t smart enough to psychoanalyze me.” A woman talks about messy moments being important.
► Two women scold another woman and tell her, “We were worried sick,” when they didn’t know where she was. People talk about missing out on life events with friends. A woman wonders if she wishes that she hadn’t gotten married. A woman bleats like a lamb.
► A young man mopping the floor after a food fight leans over and gags as if he is going to be sick (he does not get sick). A woman complains of a campfire melting her lift tape and she peels it off her head and face. A man lifts his shirt to show a scar from an arrow. A character describes having webbed toes. Bug tape hangs in a cabin and we see many flying bugs stuck to it along with cobwebs around the room. A woman mimics vomiting (she does not vomit). A young man says that fox scat contains e-coli.

Summer Camp LANGUAGE 5

 – About 2 F-words (1 not fully enunciated), 11 sexual references, 19 scatological terms (the phrase, “Get your [scatological term deleted] Together” is painted on the side of a bus that we see several times), 8 anatomical terms (a reference to “getting topless”), 24 mild obscenities, name-calling (Pretty Committee, stupid, weird, guru, bad [mild obscenity deleted], psychopath, buzzkill, intrepid, insane, edgie, weak, Cabana Carlos, wet and wild, dicey, door mat, sassy, little lamb), exclamations (effing, come on, jeez Louise, fair enough, jeez, take a hike, shut-up, oh man, shoot, no way, hush, stop, you’ve lost your mind, oh my goodness, oh dear, enough, wow, thank goodness), 27 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus Christ, oh God, my God, oh my God, oh my fricking God, a young man says a prayer). | profanity glossary |

Summer Camp SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman says that her son was on bath salts, people talk about work being a drug that is a hard habit to kick, and a comment is made about someone smelling like patchouli and lighter fluid. People drink cocktails in a few scenes and seem inebriated, and a woman asks if two other women want a drink and one woman says that she has already had too much to drink. A teen girl smokes a cigarette outside a bathroom at summer camp, and a teen girl smokes a cigarette in a bathroom.

Summer Camp DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Summer camp, nature, friendship, fitting in, menstruation, adventure, settling, self-help, workaholics, death of spouse, toxic relationships, Mark David Chapman, reunions, lying, passing judgement, crypto currencies, bullying, the power of no, independence, vulnerability.

Summer Camp MESSAGE

 – Friendship is important to happiness.