The Hate U Give | 2018 | PG-13 | – 3.6.5

Why is “The Hate U Give” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “mature thematic elements, some violent content, drug material and language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a frightening scene of police violence that results in the death of a teenager and several other violent acts, as well as discussions of racial profiling and police violence against African-Americans, and a couple of F-words. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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Taken from recent headlines, an African-American teenager (Amandla Stenberg) that attends a wealthy, mostly white prep school witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend by a police officer. Torn between two worlds, she has to decide what it means to do the right thing. Based on the young adult novel by Angie Thomas. With Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Anthony Mackie, Issa Rae, Common, Algee Smith, Sabrina Carpenter and K.J. Apa. Directed by George Tillman Jr. [Running Time: 2:12]

The Hate U Give SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A husband and his wife kiss tenderly in several scenes and their children tease them in a couple of those scenes. A teen boy and a teen girl kiss tenderly a couple of times in a school hallway and two other girls look at them with disdain. A teen boy and a teen girl in a car kiss and talk about their first kiss when they were much younger.
► A young man and a young woman hug and caress each other a few times. Young men and young women dance at a party and they thrust their hips toward each other. A teen boy and a teen girl hug in the back of a limousine and another teen pounds on the window telling them, “You better not be doing anything.”
► Three teenage girls talk about the boyfriend of one of them bringing a condom to her and that she was upset with him for assuming that it was going to be OK (one girl asks, “What size was it?”). A teenage girl talks about going to high school where she is from will lead to getting drunk, high, pregnant or killed.
► Several young women at a party wear tight-fitting and low-cut tops, dresses and short shorts and skirts that reveal cleavage, bare abdomens and bare thighs. A woman wears a low-cut camisole that reveals cleavage. A woman wears a cropped top that reveals her bare abdomen. A few posters of shirtless men are shown on the walls of a teen boy’s room.

The Hate U Give VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 - Police pull a car over with two teenagers inside: the driver refuses to show his license until the officer tells him why he pulled him over, the officer yells for the teen to get out of the car, which he does, and when the officer returns the teen has reached into the car to get a hairbrush and the office shoots him three times; the other teen in the car gets out and screams and the officer handcuffs her while the wounded teen bleeds on the street and dies (we see three bloody bullet wounds and a pool of blood on the ground under him). Three children are shown playing basketball on the sidewalk (in a flashback) and when a car drives by a man in the car shoots one of the children three times (she falls off-screen and we see no blood but we are told that she died).
► Gunshots break through the windows of a house and the people inside fall to the floor (no one is struck). A news report shows people being gunned down in the streets (we hear gunshots and see victims fall with no bloodshed). Two men shove each other in a parking lot and police arrive with their guns drawn; one officer shoves one of the men against a restaurant window, he then tackles him to the ground and kneels on his back as the other officer tries to handcuff the man's teenage son (the scene ends with no one being harmed). A fire bomb is thrown into a store where a teen boy and a teen girl are hiding; they can't get out and the flames rise until a man unlocks the door and they come out (they are coughing but are OK). Riot police pound clubs on their shields in front of a crowd of protestors; the protestors chant and the officers push into the crowd, beat many of them with clubs, tackles several, handcuff some and fire tear gas canisters into the crowd (we see cars on fire and people running for cover).
► Two men move toward each other and reach into their belts for guns; they argue and a young boy holds a gun on one of the men and yells at him to leave his father alone, just as two armed police officers arrive and hold their guns on the young boy and a teen girl stands between them with her hands up and tells them to stop (they all lower their weapons). Three men at a party yell at each other and shove each other; we hear gunshots and other people at the party run and scream (we do not see any injuries).
► A young woman at a party threatens another young woman and talks about fighting her. Two teen girls argue bitterly in a couple of scenes and the friendship eventually ends. A wife yells at her husband when he insists on going back to their house that was just shot up by a drug dealer and his gang. A teen girl takes a hairbrush from another girl and uses it as if it was a weapon while yelling at her and making her get on the ground to try to make her understand how it feels to be African-American in encounters with police. A teen girl screams and pounds on the glove compartment of a car.
► Protestors chant and yell at police and one person breaks a police car windshield with a club (the car speeds away). A teen boy is shown lying in a casket at his funeral and a teen girl touches his hand and cries. We see the photos of three murdered African-American men and one is shown with a badly swollen and scarred face after a beating. A teen boy is shown with a bruised and bloody face and blood on his shirt after he was beaten by a man.
► A teen girl wakes up with a start when she has a nightmare about a shooting that killed a friend of hers. Two young boys pretend to be holding guns and shooting each other as they run through mourners.
► A man tells his young children (9 and 10 years of age) about how to behave when interacting with police and they practice putting their hands on the dashboard of a car during a traffic stop. A man tells his children, "Know your rights. Know your worth." A man has his children memorize the Black Panther 10-Point Program. A teenage girl talks about going to high school where she is from will lead to getting drunk, high, pregnant or killed. A teenage girl talks about people thinking that she is from the "ghetto." A teen boy tells a teen girl that his grandmother has cancer and is going through chemo. A man talks about the system being designed against them. A woman talks about "blackness" being a "weapon they fear." We hear that a police officer involved in the shooting death of a teen boy received death threats. A teenage girl tells another teen girl that she will beat up the second girl's boyfriend for trying to take advantage of her.
► A teen girl vomits in a waste basket and we see goo. A young boy urinates into, on and around a toilet (we see the stream and the puddles on the back of the toilet as his older sister yells at him). A man is shown with a tattoo on his throat and a scar on his neck.

The Hate U Give LANGUAGE 5

 - About 2 F-words, 3 sexual references, 27 scatological terms, 16 anatomical terms (1 mild), 28 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-Americans, name-calling (hood, thirsty girls, stupid, cheesy, fool, crazy, charity case, lame, snitch, racist, ugly), exclamations (shut-up, mind your business), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Thank God, God, Jesus, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

The Hate U Give SUBSTANCE USE

 - We see people buying and selling drugs in a park in a few scenes and there are conversations about a gang that controls the drug trade in a town, a woman talks about her grandson "selling that stuff," and people talk about other people "popping mollies." People at a party (some underage) are shown drinking alcohol, a woman holds a drink glass and talks about "getting my drink on," and a woman takes a sip from a beer bottle before handing it to her husband. A man smokes a cigar in a car, and a poster of a man shows him with a cigar in his mouth.

The Hate U Give DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - The human condition, racism, police violence against African-Americans, sacrifice, diversity, gangs, Harry Potter, thug life, the justice system, the Black Panthers, regret, unity, mistakes, peaceful protest, Tupac Shakur, change.

The Hate U Give MESSAGE

 - For African-Americans interacting with police officers can be a fatal experience. Do something to break the cycle of violence.