Arkansas | 2020 | R | – 5.7.9

Why is “Arkansas” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence, language throughout, drug material and brief nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of implied sex scenes with partial nudity, a reference to bestiality and exotic dancing, several scenes of murder by gunshot or blows to the head with bloody wounds and pools of blood shown, several scenes of beatings with wounds shown, many scenes of drug dealing, and nearly 50 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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Two low-level gofers (Liam Hemsworth and Clark Duke) working for a mysterious drug dealer whom they’ve never met, get way over their heads when they end up having to bury a couple of bodies. Also with Eden Brolin, Vince Vaughn, John Malkovich, Michael Kenneth, Vivica A. Fox, Chandler Duke and Jacob Zachar. Directed by Clark Duke. [Running Time: 1:57]

Arkansas SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A woman invites a man inside after a date and we see them lying in bed (sex is implied) talking (bare shoulders and the man’s upper chest are seen). A woman gets out of bed with a man (sex is implied) and she is wearing underwear (we briefly see her partial bare buttock and bare breasts in heavy shadow) and the man is shirtless and we see his bare chest and abdomen).
► A woman holds a man’s hand while they are on a date together in a bar. A man flirts with a woman in a grocery store, asks her out and when she refuses, he follows her to her car and asks her again; she agrees and tells him that she will not kiss him before their 5th date. A woman tells a man that she is pregnant. A man blows a kiss to a woman in a mocking manner. A man and a woman hug in friendship.
► A man talks about his grandson having sex with a dog. A man talks about the idea of having sex with an alien. A man talks about his sisters being destined to be strippers. A woman tells a man that she doesn’t want to marry him (she is pregnant with his child) until they have gotten out of the infatuation stage of their relationship and they are no longer attracted to each other.
► What looks like a strip club is shown and the sign outside reads, “Centerfold” with the outlines of nude women’s heads and torsos adorning the sign (including the outline of the profile of breasts). A woman in a car nurses an infant and we see her partial bare breast. A man is shown wearing only underwear when he is tied up in a closet (we see his partial chest, abdomen and legs). We see condoms in a man’s desk drawer.

Arkansas VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – A man with a gun enters a house and finds a man in the garage: they argue, the gunman ties the other man to a chair, hits him in the legs with a hammer and pokes him in the ear with a hanger (we see blood and the man yells in pain); we then see the two men in an attic where one man reaches to help the other stand and he is pushed back onto the floor, they wrestle over a gun and both end up shot (we see blood on their chests and one spits blood) and we later see them both dying and then dead. A man in a car with a gun tells another man outside the car to get in and give him his gun; the second man stabs the first in the eye with a plastic fork and we hear him scream as he drives into a dumpster and the second man gets out of the car with blood in his mouth and shoots the driver twice (we do not see the wounds). A man hits another man in the head with a heavy object twice and we see blood spray on the wall (we understand that he is dead). A man goes to a house and threatens the people inside; a woman holds a knife behind her back and a glass pitcher in the other hand as another man hits the first man in the head with a tire iron killing him (we see blood on the back of his head and pooling on the floor). A man is tied into a chair and questioned and two other men strangle him to death (we hear him gurgling and gasping). Two men (one with a gun) hold two other men at gunpoint and force one into an empty bathtub while the other is taken away by the man with the gun and we hear gunshots off-screen (we understand that the man has been killed); the man in the tub climbs under a partition and the other man straddles him and strangles him until he presses his thumbs into the strangling man’s eyes (we see blood and the man screams) incapacitating him (the blinded man whimpers and we see him with bandages on his eyes later). A man shoots another man twice in the chest (we see two bloody bullet wounds as he falls to the floor dead). A man sits in a wheelchair, dead with a bloody bullet wound in his forehead. A man goes to a man’s house and we hear gunshots and see flashes from outside (it is understood that the man in the house was shot and killed).
► A man yells at his grandson and draws a knife on him during a drug deal. A man holds a gun on a ranger checking the items they have on their truck and the man lowers his gun when the ranger tells him who he is. A man holds a gun in another man’s face. A man holds a gun on another man, who has his hand on a gun in the back of his waistband; the first man lowers his gun and they talk. A man picks up a gun from his desk drawer. A woman threatens to cut a man’s head off. A character threatens another character saying, “I intend to strangle you.”
► A man is beaten and kicked on the floor until two other men beat up the attackers (we see some blood). Two men beat up a few people in a couple of scenes. A man punches another man in the stomach and then kicks him repeatedly while he is on the ground. A man knocks at a door and another man inside pulls him inside, holds him on the floor and threatens him; we then see the man in his underwear bound and gagged in a closet. A man is shown with a bloody wound on his nose and his arm in a sling.
► A man knocks on a door and acts threateningly toward the people inside when they tell him that the owner of the house is not available. Two men knock on a woman’s door and she refuses to give them what they want; one man tears the door open and they go inside and insist until she finally gives them what they want. Two men ask another man to sell them a gun and he refuses. A man finds human bones in a briefcase. Blood is shown on a bannister in a man’s house. A man buries a body in the ground, piles furniture and a mattress on top and then sets them on fire. Two men bury two bodies wrapped in plastic tarps in the ground. A TV show (“The Toxic Avenger”) shows two people fighting and one person’s arm is broken (we see the arm bend unnaturally and the person screams).
► A man calls the police to report a car with several bricks of cocaine in the trunk and we then see the driver of the car in prison. A man threatens another man with physical violence. A man tells two young men that they are going to work for him now, that they are drug dealers now and that if they try to run away he will hunt them down and kill them. A man talks about several people that have been killed. A man tells two other men that they will work for him on the grounds of a state park and that they will do whatever he asks; he also tells them that if they try to leave, he will hunt them down and kill them. Two men push a car into a lake.
► A man’s voiceover talks about most men wanting “women, cars and houses” and having “a philosophy of life.” A man says that he wants to make some lifestyle changes and he wants to sell his part of a drug business to another man. A woman says, “I can’t wait to die.” A man lies on a sofa under a blanket and says, “I have the flu.” A woman quizzes a man about what he and another man do for a living. A reference is made to a “canary in the coal mine.”

Arkansas LANGUAGE 9

 – About 45 F-words and its derivatives, 27 scatological terms, 14 anatomical terms, 20 mild obscenities, name-calling (smart guy, boring, crazy, deadbeats, losers, highway barge, criminal mastermind, fat, strange, fool, sexy, frat boy, rapists, potheads, honkie, nutty, gringo, morally atrocious, hoot, low-quality, worst enemies, tough guy, cockiness, strange egg, mean, obsessed, corny, idiot, rock pile, rude, stupid), exclamations (shut-up, fat chance), 3 religious profanities (GD), 3 religious exclamations (I have the feet of Christ, Halloween’s for Baptists, Jesus). | profanity glossary |

Arkansas SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man talks about PCP, a man sells a bag of drugs to a woman through the open windows of their cars in a dark truck lot, a man is shown selling drugs to many individuals in different settings, a drug dealer tells a man that he has to sell drugs more slowly or people will end up broke or dead, we see a pile of bricks of drugs on a table, and a man’s voiceover says “I’m a drug dealer.” A man drinks a beer and talks about getting drunk, three men drink glasses of whiskey, a man drinks a beer in a donut shop, and people are shown with drinks in a couple of bar scenes. A man smokes cigarettes in many scenes throughout the movie, a pack of cigarettes is shown on a table, and a man smokes in bed after sex.

Arkansas DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Drug dealing, organized crime, “Dixie Mafia,” guilt, love, black market, intuition, revenge, torture, early retirement, family.

Arkansas MESSAGE

 – Drug dealing is replete with betrayals and murder and is not helpful to friendships.