Banana Split | 2018 | R | – 7.2.10

Why is “Banana Split” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “crude sexual content and language throughout, drug and alcohol use — all involving teens.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several scenes of teen boys and girls having sex with some nudity, many scenes of teen kissing, and numerous very raunchy discussions of sex and sexual relationships among tweens and teens; a face punch, a few threats (seemingly joking), several arguments, a couple of breakups, and many scenes of excessive teen drinking and several of drug use; and over 50 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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Over the course of a summer, an unlikely friendship develops between two 18-year-old women (Hannah Marks and Liana Liberato) when they find out that one is the current and the other is the former girlfriend of a popular young man (Dylan Sprouse) and they have to overcome jealousy and secretive encounters. Also with Luke Spencer Roberts, Meagan Kimberly Smith, Haley Ramm and Jessica Hecht. Directed by Benjamin Kasulke. [Running Time: 1:28]

Banana Split SEX/NUDITY 7

 – A teen girl and a teen boy kiss passionately (he is shirtless and she is wearing a bra that reveals her partial bare breast) in a bedroom and the girl tells the boy that they should have sex; they lie back on the bed and sex is implied. A teen boy and a teen girl lie on a beach under a blanket and have sex; we see the blanket moving rhythmically. A teen boy and a teen girl are shown having sex on a bed and on a beach in a few scenes with thrusting and moaning (we see her bare shoulder, bare abdomen and cleavage in a couple of scenes and his bare chest and abdomen in a couple of scenes).
► A teen boy and a teen girl kiss passionately in a bathroom at a house party and the boy reaches under the girl’s top to caress her breast (we do not see flesh); the boy makes a remark about sex and the girl leaves. A teen boy and a teen girl sit on a beach together then lie back and kiss. A teen boy and a teen girl sit in a bathtub covered with bubbles and they kiss. A teen boy kisses a teen girl in the back of a car and we see them kissing passionately while standing against a wall and the girl touches the boy’s clothed crotch before they stop and call for another car. A teen boy and a teen girl talk about having crushes on each other and they kiss; the scene cuts to the hallway of a high school where we hear some rhythmic movement over the intercom speakers.
► A teen boy and a teen girl are seen kissing passionately in different settings throughout the movie. A teen boy and a teen girl kiss over a diner table tenderly, then passionately. A preteen girl plays footsie with a teen boy (her older sister’s boyfriend) under a dinner table and tells her sister that she is in love with him in a few scenes. Teen boys and teen girls kiss at house parties. A teen girl imagines a teen boy in bed with her, then sees that the boy is actually talking to another teen girl and they kiss (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A scene shows possibly 14 young men fully nude with their hands cupped over their genitals as a teen girl describes having sex with them (we do not see the sex); she says that one gave her an STI. Teen girls in a school setting wear tops that reveal bare shoulders, bare abdomens and cleavage in several scenes. Teen girls wear low-cut tops that reveal bare abdomens in a few scenes. A teen girls dress reveals her cleavage and bare legs to the upper thighs. A teen girl imagines seeing a teen boy sitting in a car with her and he does not seem to be wearing pants but he seems to have the crotch of a doll (there are no genitals). A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage in a few scenes.
► Two teen girls talk about being in love with the same teen boy. Two teen girls talk about each other’s appearance and one grabs the other’s hand to feel her push-up bra. A teen girl says to another teen girl, “Should we make out now?” (they do not kiss) and the other girl says, “I did just touch your boob.” A teen girl says that she kissed another girl once. A teen girl is shown with a bruise or hickey on her neck. A teen boy asks another teen boy if a teen girl is having sex with anyone (the boy’s ex-girlfriend). A teen girl says that having sex with a particular teen boy would be like incest, and “not the hot kind.” A woman tells her teen and preteen daughter about her sex life, with details. A preteen girl tells her mother and older sister that they are going to be single forever. A preteen girl says that she has her period. A teen girl tells another teen girl that she and a teen boy grew up together and that they would take baths together when they were kids. A teen girl writes a threatening text that includes sexual references but does not send it. A teen girl tells another teen girl that she is not a lesbian and that she knows that she has given off some lesbian vibes. Two teen girls compare having sex with a teen boy, they become uncomfortable and promise not to talk about it again. A teen boy and a teen girl talk about having broken up and that he has a new girlfriend. A teen girl tells another teen girl, “I love you but I don’t want to have sex with you.”
► Three teen girls dance while wearing costumes and they thrust their hips suggestively (one girl’s costume reveals her bare legs to the line of her underwear). Teen boy and teen girls dance in several house party scenes and we see thrusting and gyrating. Two teen girls stand on a table at a house party and sing along to lyrics of a song while others dance around them. Two teen girls hug in friendship. Two clothed teen girls lie in bed together holding hands (no sex is implied). Two clothed teen girls lie in bed together and one caresses the other’s arm (no sex is implied).

Banana Split VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – A teen boy punches another teen boy in the face (we see him with a black eye and with a bandage on his cheek the next day). A teen girl imagines a teen boy in bed with her, then sees that the boy is actually talking to another teen girl and they kiss causing the first girl to yell and grab him by the shirt; she then imagines herself driving the other two in a car while they sit in the back and have sex (we do not see the sex) and when she sees another teen boy in the front seat with her she panics and drives the car off the road before waking up in a start. Two teen girls holding butter knives in a diner threaten a teen boy if he tells another teen boy something.
► A teen girl asks a teen boy, “Are you here to murder me?” A teen girl writes a threatening text that she does not send. A teen boy and a teen girl argue in several scenes before breaking up. A teen girl says that she doesn’t want to eat anything that needs to be “corned” (referring to corned beef). A teen girl tells a patron at a movie theater that she will not sell him a hot dog because the smell of the “pig parts” will ruin the cinematic experience for the others. A teen girl is reprimanded by her boss for not selling items to the customers. A teen girl yells at a teen boy when she thinks he told her ex-boyfriend to date another teen girl. A teen girl says that meeting another teen girl (her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend) was “less bloody than I thought.” A teen girl jokingly tells another teen girl that she should wear a jacket made of her skin so that she won’t miss her when she goes away.
► A teen girl vomits after drinking at a house party and another girl holds her hair back (we hear gagging and the toilet flushes with no visible goo). A teen girl urinates in a shrub and talks about drip-drying; another teen girl urinates in a shrub and complains of urine getting on her shoe (we do not see anything). A teen girl gives a teen boy a gift of deodorant and he asks, “Are you saying I’m stinky?”

Banana Split LANGUAGE 10

 – About 51 F-words and its derivatives, 10 or more emojis of an obscene hand gesture, 24 sexual references, 13 scatological terms, 32 anatomical terms (several in song lyrics), 14 mild obscenities, 1 mouthed derogatory term for African-Americans while singing along to song lyrics, name-calling (bro, sick, weird, perv, thirsty, baller, traitor, homeless person, dingus, rat, cheese eating rat, fat, creepy boyfriend placeholder, lying [sexual reference deleted], demented, awkward, idiot, ginger, boring plastic people, Judas), exclamation (good riddance), 9 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Oh God, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Banana Split SUBSTANCE USE

 – Two teen girls buy drugs from a man and two teen girls take acid and hike into the desert where they see very colorful stars in the sky, two teenage boys smoke marijuana in a food preparation area of a restaurant/bakery where they both work in a couple of scenes, two teen girls smoke a marijuana cigarette in a car, two teen girls smoke a marijuana cigarette while driving, and a teen girl makes reference to having done whippets. Teenagers at several house parties drink shots of liquor until some of them appear very drunk, a woman shares a glass of wine with her teenage and preteen daughters, and two teen girls do shots at a house party until they are inebriated. A teen girl smokes what looks like a cigarillo in a car.

Banana Split DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Friendship vs. romantic relationships, high school dating, life choices, college.

Banana Split MESSAGE

 – Young women can form strong friendships despite the men in their lives.