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Beach Bum | 2019 | R | – 8.5.10

content-ratingsWhy is “Beach Bum” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “pervasive drug and alcohol use, language throughout, nudity and some strong sexual content. ” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of sex scenes, implications of sex and infidelity and many scenes of topless women; a car crash that causes the death of a woman and a bloody shark attack that leaves a man without a foot; many scenes of reckless behavior and persistent and pervasive use and abuse of drugs, alcohol and tobacco; and over 100 F-words. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”


A man (Matthew McConaughey) moves through a life of excess, enjoying the Florida sunshine, booze and getting high, while supported by his wealthy wife. After being celebrated for a successful but brief writing career, his wife dies and he decides to try to focus and finish a book of poetry. Also with Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Stefania LaVie Owen, Martin Lawrence, Zac Efron and Jonah Hill. Directed by Harmony Korine. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Spanish without translation. [Running Time: 1:35]

Beach Bum SEX/NUDITY 8

 – A husband performs oral sex on his wife as she sits in a chaise lounge and another woman gives her a pedicure; the woman is clothed and she moans. A husband performs oral sex on his wife as she straddles his head and face (he is covered by her long robe) and she moans (we hear him slurping and smacking). A married man flirts with a woman at a bar, they drink alcohol, they dance and he caresses her clothed breasts; she lifts her skirt to show him her underwear and we see them having sex in the kitchen (her bare breasts and buttocks are visible) as he thrusts from behind and smacks her bare buttocks with a hamburger flipper.
 A man lays on a platform on a boat with two topless women lying next to him (we see their bare breasts, abdomens and legs to their hips and backs); he kisses one woman deeply and then runs to attend to a fishing pole. A husband and his wife hug and kiss passionately; she is wearing lingerie that reveals cleavage and bare legs to the lower buttocks.
 Several topless women (we see bare breasts, abdomens and backs) are shown dancing with a shirtless man (his bare chest, abdomen and back are seen); the man rests his head on a transgender woman’s ample cleavage and says, “I love you,” and the transgender woman replies in a very deep voice, “I love you too.” Topless women wearing thong bikini bottoms are shown dancing on a yacht (bare breasts, abdomens, buttocks, backs and legs are seen). Topless women are shown dancing in dim lighting (we see bare breasts, abdomens, buttocks and backs). A man is surrounded by three women as they drink and smoke and we see one woman wearing a mesh tank top that reveals her bare breasts through the weave, and another woman wears a T-shirt that has large blinking eyes over her nipples. People dance and drink alcohol in a club scene. Topless women are shown massaging a man (we see their bare breasts, abdomens and backs). A woman dances with a man and he caresses her bare buttocks. A woman wears lingerie and stockings with garters with a long robe open and blowing in the wind (cleavage, bare legs from stocking tops to the hips and partial buttocks are seen) as she speaks to her husband on the phone and hugs a shirtless man (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back) standing with her (it is implied that they are having an affair). A man’s shirt is open revealing his bare chest and abdomen in many scenes. Women at a wedding and reception wear dresses that reveal cleavage. A man wearing thong underwear rides a bicycle in a circle (his bare chest, abdomen, legs and buttocks are seen). A homeless man is shown wearing only an adult diaper (his bare chest, abdomen, back and legs are seen). A man urinates and we see the stream, although it is dark, and it is possible that his genitals are visible but mostly covered by the flouncy fabric of his shorts.
 A man sucks on a woman’s toes and says he missed them. A man and a married woman kiss passionately on a pier and the man squeezes the woman’s clothed buttocks as her husband watches and seems surprised. A husband and his wife kiss on a dock and dance.
 A man confesses to another man that he was having a “really wild sexual” affair with his wife and describes using hand gestures some of their activities. A man recites a poem that contains references to having sex with a woman twice in a day. A man’s boat is called “Well Hung.” A man makes reference to his genitals in several scenes. A man mocks another man (his daughter’s husband) over his genitals in several scenes and calls him names. A man talks about “poetic foreplay.” Two men grab each other’s clothed crotches and they hold on for a few minutes. A man talks about another man walking in on his daughter when she was changing and that she told her father that he stayed long enough to make her uncomfortable. A father talks about holding his infant daughter at birth covered with a “placenta veil.” A woman tells her adult daughter that a man (not her father) is a wonderful lover. A father talks to his adult daughter about how good her mother was at sex and describes a part of her anatomy. Two men talk at length about the shape of a dolphin’s penis and that they are in mating season as a family (with young children) listens and seems shocked.

Beach Bum VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 - A woman finds her husband in a bar and she says, "Let's go driving," (they are both drunk); we see them driving and swerving across lanes, speeding toward an oncoming vehicle and we then see them both in ambulances and the hospital where the woman dies from her injuries (he has a bloody nose and she has blood at her mouth). A man jumps off a boat and into water where he thinks he sees dolphins swimming and several people remain on the boat watching as the fins circle him and a large shark jumps out of the water toward him; we see the man on the boat later with a bloody wound on his leg (blood spurts from the stump) and a severed and bloody foot in a basket while the man moans and we see him being loaded into an ambulance.
 A man hits an elderly man riding in a motorized scooter in the head with a bottle knocking him to the ground (we do not see blood, but the man moans) and stealing his wallet. A man shoots a firework into a pile of paper money on a boat and it burns, and he smashes a bottle of alcohol onto the fire and it bursts into large flames before exploding (we see the man in a dingy with a cat and they both have soot on them, but are otherwise unharmed); flaming bills float over the shore and people catch them. Two men break out of a rehab clinic by shattering a window, stealing a golf cart and driving away; they crash a wedding party and push the groom into water and steal a boat. A man stumbles in his kitchen and falls on the floor hitting his head; we see him lying on the floor later and a woman wraps his head with a bandage that we see spotted with blood. A man shoves another man off a pier and into water. A man grabs another man's (his son-in-law to be) crotch and squeezes during a wedding ceremony. A man pushes a woman in a wheelchair and lets her go to crash into a wall (we do not see injuries). A man stumbles through a parking lot and kicks a garbage can (he seems inebriated). A fully clothed man walks into a swimming pool and floats under water a few times while smoking a marijuana cigarette (he holds it out of the water as he swims). A man is arrested for trespassing and we see him in a jail cell later. A man is escorted out of his house by police after his wife dies and her will instructs that he should have nothing until he completes a book. A man says that he was huffing paint, a large amount of marijuana in bags is piled into a van and loaded into a plane and later pushes a wheelbarrow full of the bags through streets.
 A man pleads with his adult daughter to give him some money and she refuses. Mourners gather at a funeral. A man drops an empty beer can on a dock after he drinks it. A man says something about getting drunk and staying drunk. A man sleeps on an abandoned mattress with homeless people. Several people in a rehab center talk about their addictions. A man says that he likes to set things on fire. A man says that someone he knew blew himself up. A man is called "Moondog" and he howls and barks like a dog in a few scenes. A man walks with a limp and says that a piece of shrapnel partially shredded his testicles. A man says that the great thing about having money is that you can just be horrible to people and they just have to take it. A man talks about coming down off a 2-day acid trip.
 A man pulls the trigger on a handgun and it discharges surprising him (no one is harmed). Men with automatic weapons patrol a waterfront property and a moored yacht in several scenes. A man picks up a gun and says that it was the one he used in "Nam." Several homeless men walk through streets and go to a man's home where they swim in the swimming pool and break up furniture and a piano using baseball bats and golf clubs (we see splintered furniture and feathers floating around rooms).
 A homeless man is shown wearing only an adult diaper (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). A man removes his dentures and we see a string of saliva on them. A man catches a large octopus on a line and we see him cooking it in a pan.

Beach Bum LANGUAGE 10

 - About 106 F-words and its derivatives, 1 obscene hand gesture and one drawing of an obscene hand gesture on a T-shirt, 14 sexual references, 41 scatological terms, 21 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, name-calling (angel pussy -- referring to a white cat -- bottom feeder, crude, reckless, boy, freaky, tiger, devil, dependable, moron, dog, milk drinking, jerk, bum, Republican), exclamations (bloody mess), 3 religious profanities (GD), 5 religious exclamations (e.g. Almighty God, Oh My God, You Got God On Your Shoulder). | profanity glossary |

Beach Bum SUBSTANCE USE

 - A man is shown in nearly every scene smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol or snorting cocaine or smoking cigars and cigarettes or all of the above. A man shows another man a large marijuana plant that he says is from Jamaica and that it has special hallucinatory properties, two men smoke a drug and talk about what they see in a hallucination, a man has a marijuana cigarette in his mouth in many scenes, a man smokes marijuana from a bong in several scenes, a woman smokes marijuana from a bong in a few scenes, a man smokes a marijuana cigarette and drinks a can of beer while on a golf course, a man smokes a very large rolled marijuana cigarette while flying a plane and we understand that he has glaucoma in both eyes, a man smokes a marijuana cigarette and passes it to his adult daughter at the funeral of his wife (her mother), and a man smokes from a bong and coughs repeatedly, a man in a convenience store asks the clerk if they sell acid (he says no), a man snorts cocaine and another man feeds some to his "coke addicted parrot," a man says that he was huffing paint, a large amount of marijuana in bags is piled into a van and loaded into a plane and later pushes a wheelbarrow full of the bags through streets, a man talks about coming down off a 2-day acid trip, a man smokes a marijuana cigarette and passes it to his adult daughter in a few scenes, and a man smokes a marijuana cigarette held between his wife's toes. A man sits with a can of beer resting on his knee, a man holds a cocktail while surrounded by three women, people drink champagne at a wedding reception, a woman says that she thinks a man's parents put brandy in his baby bottle, people in a bar drink alcohol and a man seems drunk, a man drinks a beer while he walks on a dock and carries several full cans, a man says something about getting drunk and staying drunk, a man carries and drinks from a bottle of wine while skateboarding, a man buys beer and a cigar in a convenience store, and several bar scenes show people drinking cocktails and beer and some are seen smoking cigarettes as well. A woman is seen smoking something from what looks like a Vape (it is not clear what it is), and a man smokes large cigars in several scenes.

Beach Bum DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - Writing, talent, bigger than life personalities, wealth, waste, luck, karma, doubt, Pulitzer Prize, death of a loved one, excess, drug use/abuse, court-ordered rehab, adventure, civility.

Beach Bum MESSAGE

 - Some people just like to have aimless fun, as they choose to define it.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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