Elvis | 2022 | PG-13 | – 5.4.4

Why is “Elvis” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “substance abuse, strong language, suggestive material and smoking.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several implied sex scenes, discussions of infidelity, several kissing scenes, many scenes of a singer dancing with hip gyrations and crowds of women swooning, reports of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, many arguments, manipulation for monetary gain, scenes of a man being given and taking addictive drugs, discussions of alcoholism, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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The meteoric rise to stardom of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) plays out as his manager (Tom Hanks) pulls every string to make more money, regardless of the consequences. Also with Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Luke Bracey. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. [Running Time: 2:39]

Elvis SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A young woman is shown at a young man’s motel room door, she enters the room, she undresses and we see her wearing a bra, underwear, a garter and stockings as she lies back on a bed and they kiss (sex is implied).
► A husband and his wife embrace while sitting on a sofa and she kisses him on the forehead. A woman wears a baby doll nightgown (cleavage, partial bare buttocks and legs to the hips are seen) and her husband smacks her on the buttocks as she walks out of the room; he then climbs on top of her in bed and they kiss. While listening to a man sing and play guitar in a bar, a man and a woman dance with suggestive movements; they caress each other, and the woman wraps her legs around the man’s waist when he picks her up. A woman wearing a bra and underwear (we see cleavage, bare abdomen, back, legs to the hips and partial buttocks) lies in a bed and a married man joins her, they kiss and are interrupted (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A man and a woman kiss in a few scenes including at their wedding. Many women crowd around a man as he walks through them and kisses many of them, as his wife watches and seems to become upset.
► Young women in an audience watching a young man sing and dance onstage scream and swoon and grab his jacket, pulling it off. During a few performances, women in the audience throw undergarments onto the stage while a man sings and dances. A man dances onstage wiggling his hips and gyrating and the camera focuses on his legs and crotch area in a few scenes as women in the audience scream and swoon and men seem uncomfortable. Women cheer and reach for a man singing onstage in several scenes.
► A man and a woman contortionist stretch and we see the man’s leg bent over his head and the woman’s leg stretched straight up against a pole. A few scenes of cabaret-type shows with women wearing skimpy outfits (legs to the hips are seen) and dancing onstage with high kicks. Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in several scenes. A man wears his shirts partially unbuttoned in a few scenes to reveal part of his bare chest. A man sings and dances on a stage and takes off his jacket, removes his tie and unbuttons his shirt to reveal his bare chest and partial abdomen. A TV segment is described as featuring the “whorehouse dancers” and we see women wearing skimpy outfits dancing (cleavage, bare abdomens and legs are shown).
► Several scenes show people discussing the way a man sings and dances as being lewd and threaten to keep him from being shown on television or performing in general. People talk about “…lust and perversion dividing this nation.”

Elvis VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – The opening sequence shows a man stumbling and falling to the floor spilling a box of what looks like greeting cards; we see him in an ambulance where he is given an IV drip of Morphine. A woman collapses on the floor at the top of a flight of stairs and we understand that she died. We hear news reports of the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and we see newsreel footage of Kennedy with blood on his head.
► A man jumps onto a stage during a performance and the entertainer kicks him in the chest while other people take him away to safety. A woman lies in a bed and a married man joins her, they kiss and the man thinks he hears something; he gets a gun and searches in the hallway, and then shoots three TV screens as the woman quickly dresses and leaves. A man collapses on the floor and his head is plunged into a bucket of ice in an attempt to revive him, until a doctor injects him with something to make him able to perform. People crowd around a young man clamoring for autographs in a few scenes.
► A man dances and sings onstage during a concert while the Vice Squad films him and police surround him and eventually take him off-stage while the crowd protests and pushes toward the stage; the man wiggles his little finger in the direction of a man that threatened him. A man reaches an agreement with a Las Vegas Casino owner to have an entertainer perform for six years in exchange for expunging his debt. Several scenes show people discussing the way a man sings and dances as being lewd and threaten to send him to jail if he does not “clean up his act”; at one point, the young man is drafted into the army. A young boy goes into a Revival tent and sees people singing and as he moves through the crowd he begins to quake as a man says that he is being “moved by the spirit” and he collapses into the arms of people around him.
► We hear that Elvis Presley died at the age of 42. A wife tells her husband that she is leaving him. A woman yells at her son and says that she is afraid that something will come between them if he goes away to pursue a music career. A woman yells at her son and pounds on a table and he yells back at her. We hear that a man’s twin brother died shortly after birth. A man in a hospital bed says, “I did not kill him.” A man talks about being an orphan and that he ran away to the carnival. A man talks about a young boy growing up in poverty with his mother when his father was in prison. We hear that a man was sent to jail for passing a bad check. A voice-over describes that a white boy and his mother moved into a home in a Black community. A young man jokes that people are behaving as if he “shot his mother and smokes marijuana.” People tell a young man that other people are using him. A man yells about segregating schools at a segregationist rally and fearing an Africanized culture. People talk about a man’s family being one of “delinquents.” People talk about a woman and that she “worried and drank.” People talk about a certain type of movie falling out of favor. Advertising executives watch and seem increasingly uncomfortable while watching the filming of a TV special where their products will be advertised; they then threaten a lawsuit. A man says that an entertainer has received death threats. We hear reports of a man being treated in the hospital for exhaustion and that foil is put in the windows to block the sunlight. A man says that another man was addicted to the love he felt onstage. A man gambling in a casino is threatened and told to leave when he accumulates a large debt.
► A man and a woman contortionist stretch and we see the man’s leg bent over his head and the woman’s leg stretched straight up against a pole.

Elvis LANGUAGE 4

 – 3 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, 5 derogatory terms for African-American people, name-calling (liar, cheat, conman, washed up, workhorse, stupid, squirrel, hippies, blood sucking vampire, toad, slave in a salt mine, long hairs, radicals, whore house dancers, broke down, beat up, rotten, in the toilet, hillbillies, ghost, embarrassment, delinquents, psychopathic, voodoo devil music, animalistic, Elvis the Pelvis, childish, flop), exclamations (hot diggity dog, lost, burdened), 13 religious profanities (GD), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. God, oh God, good Lord, oh Lord, oh my God, Lord have mercy, what the Devil). | profanity glossary |

Elvis SUBSTANCE USE

 – Many scenes show a man administering drugs to another man, a man in an ambulance is given an IV drip of Morphine, a woman pleads with her estranged husband to go to rehab, and a man gives a young man a pill to “perk him up.” A woman drinks from a vodka bottle in a few scenes, a man yells at his mother telling her that he wished she wouldn’t drink so much, people drink bottles of beer at a party, a woman drinks a glass of champagne, a man guzzles a glass of champagne onstage, and people talk about a woman and that she “worried and drank.” A man smokes cigarettes in several scenes, a man smokes cigars in several scenes including in a hospital room with a posted no smoking sign, and people in a casino scene smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.

Elvis DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Fame, poverty, prison, fraud, celebrity, alcoholism, drug addiction, mismanagement, security, gospel music, forbidden fruit, Blues, publicity, merchandising, vulgarity, segregation, tragedy, racism, infidelity, happiness, politics, breach of contract, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy, grief, space race, IRA, trust, sacrifice, The Beatles.

Elvis MESSAGE

 – Family is everything.