Holler | 2021 | R | – 2.5.6

Why is “Holler” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language and sexual references.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several kissing scenes, a death by gunshot with blood shown and a beating with bloody wounds shown, several scenes of stealing and selling scrap metal, discussions of people over-prescribed pain medication, and about 20 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A very smart and tenacious teenage girl (Jessica Barden) and her older brother (Gus Halper) struggle to make ends meet and avoid being evicted from their home in a small Ohio town, when their mother ends up in prison and refuses rehab. The two become embroiled with a metal scrap crew to make enough money to send the teen to college. Also with Pamela Adlon, Austin Amelio, Becky Ann Baker, Grace Kaiser, Larry Jones, Trevor Evans and Joe Hemsley. Directed by Nicole Riegel. [Running Time: 1:30]

Holler SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A young woman and a young man kiss passionately in several scenes. A man kisses a teen girl and then leaves the room awkwardly.
► A teen girl is shown with a toddler and she talks about needing to graduate from high school. A teen girl speaks disparagingly about her older brother’s girlfriend and accuses her of being promiscuous. A woman tells her son that he must not “knock up a factory girl.” A woman calls another woman a “lesbian” and the other woman says that she is not. A teen girl says that listening to a group of men talk is all the birth control she needs.
► A young woman wears low-cut tops and tight-fitting pants in several scenes (cleavage and her bare abdomen are shown).

Holler VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – People go to an abandoned factory to steal metal and we hear other people being there; a teen girl hides under a desk in an office and we hear yelling and a gunshot and we later see a man with a bloody gunshot wound and hear that he died at the hospital later. A man grabs a young man by the shirt, yells at him, punches him, punches him again and kicks him several times while he is on the ground (we see him with bloody facial wounds and on an IV in a hospital later).
► People go to an abandoned factory at night and steal metal scraps; one man says to watch out for other “scrappers,” and a teen girl breaks through a ceiling to retrieve copper wire. A teen girl runs through an alley carrying bags filled with cans as a man chases her; she jumps into a pickup truck and she and a young man drive away. A teen girl steals a book from a school library and she is taken forcibly to the school resource officer, then to the town jail where she is held until her brother picks her up (she loses borrowing privileges after too many absences). A young man and a teen girl steal scrap metal from a scrapyard and plan to sell it back to the scrap metal dealer (he catches them). A teen girl tears up papers, and breaks a laptop and a piece of machinery in an office.
► A man yells at a teen girl and tells her to get off his property. A teen girl speaks disparagingly about her older brother’s girlfriend and accuses her of being promiscuous; the two young women argue in a couple of scenes. Two men argue about the price he is paying for scrap metal. A man argues with another man when he is laid off from his factory job and a couple of people are reprimanded for filming the encounter. Many people are befuddled when they are told that they need to leave a factory and are not permitted to retrieve their personal items form a breakroom when the plant is shut down. A woman yells at a young man and a teen girl when they are talking loudly (they’re celebrating) on their front porch. A young woman yells at a young man, about his car being towed. A woman says that another woman’s doctor kept prescribing her medication and she ended up addicted. A man complains about not being able to pay his child support. A teen girl finds an eviction notice on her front door and hides it from her brother. A teen girl pays another teen girl to complete a take-home test for her; she says that she stole the money from her mother. A woman tells her children that a human head was found nearby. A teen girl yells at her brother when she is accepted to college after the young man submitted her application, unbeknownst to her. A woman says that another woman hurt her hand on the job. A man talks about jobs being moved to Mexico and abroad. A teen girl’s teacher tries to talk her out of going to college. A man tells a story about another man jumping and landing on another man, and causing the second man to defecate.
► A young woman uses a power saw to cut pieces of salvaged metal into smaller pieces (we see her hands with bloody cuts on them later). A teen girl uses an axe to split firewood. A man and a teen girl compare scars and she says that one scar on her hand is from trying to get a knife away from her mother. A man helps bandage a wound on a teen girl’s leg (we do not see blood). A teen girl says that she is afraid of the people when she tries to skate onto a roller rink; a man that is trying to persuade her, falls on the floor (there are no injuries). A man shows a young man a crossbow. A young woman’s tongue is shown to have been altered and it is separated into two parts, like a snake’s tongue.

Holler LANGUAGE 6

 – About 20 F-words, 7 sexual references, 15 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 14 mild obscenities, name-calling (grumpy, lesbian, cheap, skanky, Pudge, scrawny, scrappers, weak, junkie, slow, honey, deadbeats, crooks, mean), exclamations (mind your own business, shut-up, how dare you), 6 religious profanities (GD), 10 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus, Holy [scatological term deleted], Holy [mild obscenity deleted], Oh My [F-word deleted] G). | profanity glossary |

Holler SUBSTANCE USE

 – People talk about a woman needing to go to rehab, people at a party smoke something that could be marijuana, a teen girl accuses her mother of being “high every day,” and a woman says that another woman’s doctor kept prescribing her medication and she ended up addicted. People drink beers in several scenes, people drink shots of liquor at a party, and a man drinks from a bottle of liquor. A man smokes cigarettes in several scenes, a man smokes a cigarette while roller skating and shares it with a teen girl, a teen girl gives her mother a pack of cigarettes during visitation at a jail, and a young woman holds a cigarette in her tongue between two parts that have been slit like a snake’s tongue.

Holler DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Small towns and lack of opportunity, drug addiction, rehab, hard work, over prescribing pain medication, engineering, business, student loan debt, life below the poverty line, fake promises by politicians.

Holler MESSAGE

 – Given an opportunity to get out of a dead-end situation, take it.