I Want You Back | 2022 | R | – 6.3.6

Why is “I Want You Back” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language, sexual material, some drug use and partial nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes the sounds of a couple having sex in another room, an implied sex scene with partial nudity, a near sex scene with two women and a man, references to infidelity and breakups, a punch in the face, a plane flying through turbulence, people jumping from a balcony into a hot tub, several arguments, a scene of drug use and underage drinking, and at least 15 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A man (Charlie Day) and a woman (Jenny Slate) trying to recover from breakups, decide to help each other sabotage the new relationships of their respective exes in order to get them back. Their strategy does not go exactly as planned. Also with Scott Eastwood, Gina Rodriguez, Manny Jacinto, Clark Backo and Luke David Blumm. Directed by Jason Orley. [Running Time: 1:51]

I Want You Back SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A man and a woman kiss on a bed, he removes his shirt (we see his bare back and the woman’s bra, cleavage and bare abdomen) and they continue to kiss (sex is implied); the man gets out of bed saying that they had sex 3 times (we see his bare buttocks and side), says he needs a shower and we see his bare back, buttocks and legs with a laundry hamper blocking his genitals as the view moves to the front (another man is hiding in the hamper unbeknownst to the man) and we see his bare chest and abdomen to the hips (the woman joins the man in the shower off-screen). A man and a woman kiss on a sofa while another woman watches, two women then kiss, one woman takes off the man’s shirt (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back), one woman takes off her top and the other unbuttons her dress (we see bras and underwear, cleavage, bare abdomens, backs and legs to the hips) and dance while the man sits shirtless on the sofa watching them; the man then sits on a bed, one woman takes off his pants and we see him wearing boxer briefs as the other woman becomes uncomfortable and leaves and the first woman gives the man his pants back and also leaves.
► We hear the sounds of a man and a woman having sex in another room as a man and a woman are talking; the man exits the bedroom shirtless and we see his bare chest, abdomen and back. A man and a woman kiss. A man and a woman kiss after their wedding. A man and a woman hug and kiss. A man and woman snuggle in bed, clothed.
► People drink heavily and dance at a club before leaving to go to a home where they continue drinking and they take a drug; as they leave one man says, “I gotta be good.” A woman asks a man and another woman if they would be interested in having sex all together and they agree. In several scenes, a man says that he has had multiple threesomes. A post on a phone screen from a man to a woman reads, “Come back to bed” and a man becomes upset when he reads it. A woman says that she kissed her married gym teacher when she was a teenager. Using crude terms a preteen boy makes a remark about a man and a woman (both teachers) having sex. A preteen boy says that his father is having an affair with another man. A man tells another man after a breakup that he needs to,” Get back on the whores,” instead of the horse. A man at a club talks about “grinding with the honeys.” A woman says that she prefers straightforward sexual experiences. A woman says that she is a sexually adventurous person. A personal trainer at a gym tells a man to take off his shirt so he can take some “before” photos and the man refuses.
► A man breaks into a woman’s home and tries to plant a condom wrapper on her bed to imply that her boyfriend is having an affair. A man becomes upset when he sees a picture of his ex with another man. A woman cries when a teen boy tells a teen girl that he loves her (after she had braces put on).
► Women wear low-cut tops and dresses that reveal cleavage in several scenes. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and her bare leg to the thigh. A teen girl takes off her clothes and we see her wearing her bra and underwear (cleavage, bare abdomen, back and legs to the hips are seen).

I Want You Back VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A man punches another man hard in the face and he falls to the floor (we see his bruised face later). A plane flies through turbulence and bounces around, passengers fasten their seatbelts and oxygen masks are deployed and they put them on (everything is fine). A man jumps from a balcony into a hot tub, a teen girl follows and then another man follows (there are no injuries); one man talks about someone else trying to jump into a pool and getting hurt and that he is in a wheelchair now. A middle school theater performance of “Little Shop of Horrors,” includes a girl being killed by a giant man-eating plant (we see the girl with stage blood on her face and clothing and she spits out blood as she pretends to die. A man breaks into a woman’s home and tries to plant a condom wrapper on her bed to imply that her boyfriend is having an affair; he hears someone else coming in and hides in a laundry hamper.
► A man breaks up with a woman at a restaurant and she cries on the curb outside. A woman tells a man that she wants to break up with him and says, “We’re stuck”; the man cries while singing happy birthday to a young boy. A man talks about having been in a relationship for 6 years and that he cannot start over. A woman tells a man, “You used me.” A preteen boy tells a woman that he was given detention because he put the class hamster in a blender (he did not). A man and a woman make plans to break up the new relationships of their respective exes by lying about them and trying to seduce them into being unfaithful. A woman in a meeting about retirement homes talks about spending too much money on feeding their elderly residents. A man and a woman talk about dying alone. A woman talks about choking on something and needing a Heimlich maneuver at a bat Mitzvah. A man plays with children at a birthday party and says, “I eat birthday boys.” A man says that two students are out with pink eye. After taking a drug a man says, “I can feel my heart beating in my eyes,” and “I can smell the moon.”
► A woman pounds on a baseball with a meat mallet. A man drinks a glass of whiskey and appears drunk when he throws the glass, which breaks and he slides down the front of a refrigerator. Two men run away from a house where they have been drinking and taking drugs with people that they thought were adults but are 17 years old and the father of one of them comes home to find them. A man cries into a pillow.
► A man urinates in a bathroom off-screen and we hear a trickle.

I Want You Back LANGUAGE 6

 – About 15 F-words and its derivatives, 14 sexual references, 13 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 11 mild obscenities, name-calling (weird, terrible, sadness sisters, ridiculous, mean prank, weirdo, pervert, tense, losers, psycho, chicken, ugly, weird smelling, idiot, gay dad, stupid, uptight, greasy, annoying, pathetic, crazy, bonkers, ill-advised, boring old boyfriend, human equivalent of toast, horrible, old dudes, horny), exclamations (wow, frickin’, darn it, oh no, oooh, oh my gosh, whoo, ugh, bleh, you gotta be kidding me, screw you, bummer, oh heck yeah), 32 religious exclamations (e.g. God, oh my God, oh God, Jesus, thank God, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

I Want You Back SUBSTANCE USE

 – People take Molly and drink at a home, and a teacher calls out to students using paint in a theater class that the paint is for painting and not for huffing. A man drinks a glass of whiskey and appears drunk when he throws the glass and it breaks, a man and a woman drink heavily in a karaoke bar, people drink during a wedding and reception, a woman drinks wine in a restaurant and pours some for a man that joins her, a man and a woman drink beer in a bar and other settings in several scenes, and a woman drinks a hard lemonade. A man and a woman smoke cigarettes in a stairwell and both cough when they inhale (they put the cigarettes out), and a preteen boy puts a cigarette in his mouth and a woman reprimands him.

I Want You Back DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Ending relationships, moving on, complacency, fracking, secrets, revenge, vulnerability.

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