Joy Ride | 2023 | R | – 8.4.10

Why is “Joy Ride” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong and crude sexual content, language throughout, drug content and brief graphic nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several sex scenes with partial nudity, non-sexual full-frontal female nudity, many discussions of sex and sexual references, discussions of sexual abstinence, a sexually explicit song, several face slaps during a drinking game, a punch on a playground, many arguments, discussions of adoption and seeking out birth parents, scenes of hiding illegal drugs in body cavities and ingesting drugs, several scenes of heavy drinking, and over 70 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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One person’s adventure turns into a nightmare for four friends (Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Sabrina Wu and Stephanie Hsu) while traveling to China and they uncover certain uncomfortable truths about each other, as well as their friendship. Also with Debbie Fan, Kenneth Liu, Annie Mumolo and David Denman. Directed by Adele Lim. [Running Time: 1:35]

Joy Ride SEX/NUDITY 8

 – At the end of a performance a woman’s skirt pulls off exposing her fully nude from the waist down: we see her genital area with a large tattoo and the inside of her vagina, where the tattoo continues, and her bare buttocks.
► A man kisses a woman on the neck and then moves down her chest and below the frame (oral sex is implied) as another man says that the first man wants to make her scream; the second man and the woman kiss passionately and we see all three people in bed together with the woman on top of one man and the other man behind her and later with both men between her legs (oral sex is implied) as she moans and climaxes. A woman falls off a stationary bike and hurts her back; a man uses a massager to help with the pain and the woman moans sexually, rolls on her back on the floor and holds a basketball between her legs as the man presses the massager against it and she appears to climax while moaning loudly; the woman then holds the massager to the man’s groin and he moans loudly as the scene ends. A man and woman hug and kiss and the man moans and pulls away nearly climaxing. A woman moans sexually when a cocaine-filled condom apparently bursts in her anus and she becomes aroused when she sees a man.
► A woman makes body-positive art and we see several items in the shapes of male and female genitals. A girl makes a clay item in the shape of male genitals and opens her mouth wide as if to drink from it.
► A woman touches her own clothed nipple suggestively while looking at a man. A character says, “I got a tattoo,” and we hear a zipper unzip as three women look at the tattoo (we do not see it) and lights flash as one of the women says, “It lights up.” A non-binary person holds a microphone toward their mouth suggesting oral sex. A non-binary person is shown with vomit on their shirt and face (we see goo) and while being washed off with a hose, they hold the hose between their legs and spray while saying, “I’m a boy.”
► A woman talks about being aroused after inadvertently ingesting cocaine. A woman talks about sex and fantasizing about sex in numerous scenes. A woman talks about being “sexually free.” Several women swoon over a man when he takes off his shirt. A woman describes a man as “hot” and says that she would have sex with him. A man talks about ways that he prevents himself from climaxing when kissing his fiancée. A character talks about someone marrying a pillow. People talk about a woman having a tattoo on her genitals in several scenes. A man and woman talk about being “good Christians” and saving sex for marriage; whenever they kiss, the man says, “Leave room for Jesus.” While hiding drugs from authorities, one character holds up a condom filled with cocaine and says, “I’m not ready to have sex yet.”
► A man takes off his shirt and we see his bare chest, abdomen and back. Women wear low-cut tops and dresses that reveal cleavage in many scenes. A woman wears a dress that has cutouts over her breast that reveal cleavage and her partially bare breast. A sculpture of a woman is seen and the breasts and abdomen are visible.

Joy Ride VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – On the set of a TV show a character holds a sword to a woman’s throat, and he is then threatened by another man with a sword; the first man slashes his own throat (blood spurts) and falls to the ground. People at a club play a game where the winner gets to slap their opponent in the face; two women slap each other repeatedly and a woman slaps a man very hard causing his lip to bleed. A young girl punches a young boy in the face when he makes a racist remark on the playground; the boy stumbles backward in front of a young girl swinging on a swing, he is kicked and he falls down off-screen.
► Several men are shown on crutches and with bandages on their heads after having sex with women and a man yells that one man has a torn hamstring, others have concussions and one has a shattered pelvis. A man and a woman play racquetball with loud slamming of the ball against the walls and two men also play and one man is struck in the groin by the ball and he falls to the floor in pain. A woman falls off a stationary bike and hurts her back; a man uses a massager to help with the pain (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details).
► A young Asian girl makes a presentation about her family tree and children in the class laugh and tease her because her parents are white, and they say she was adopted because her mother didn’t want her; she becomes upset until a friend intervenes.
► Officers search a train for someone smuggling drugs, five people ingest a lot of drugs and hide others in their body cavities (no nudity is visible), and the officers kick the women off the train and we see them standing in the wilderness. A woman blows cocaine in the faces of four other people on a train to incriminate them and make them help her hide drugs from authorities.
► A woman tells another woman, “I hate you so much.” Two women are upset when they are fired from their jobs. Several women argue bitterly. An Asian husband and wife look around a playground and seem alarmed stating, “Look at all the white people,” until a young girl is introduced to their young daughter and they play together. People remark about the appearance of Japanese people, Chinese people and Korean people, while in an airport. A woman accuses another woman of being racist to her own people. We hear that a woman became pregnant as a teenager and that her parents sent her away to have the child, and forced her to give it up for adoption.
► A woman projectile vomits on a man’s face and shirt (we see goo). A woman vomits on a person’s head (we see goo) and we later see them being washed off with a hose. People in a club drink a shot of liquor with what they say is a “thousand year old egg” in it and one woman struggles to swallow it making sounds and chewing, seemingly very uncomfortable. A woman squats behind a bush and removes several drug-filled condoms (no nudity or condoms are shown) and is concerned that there is another one that she cannot find; she makes some pushing and grunting sounds.
► Four people ride in a container on a large ship and chickens squawk around them; a woman complains about the noise and another person holds a chicken out of view and we hear a snap (presumably, the chicken’s neck was snapped). A large horned beetle is seen on a woman’s jacket sleeve and she screams and swats it off.

Joy Ride LANGUAGE 10

 – About 74 F-words, 9 obscene hand gestures, 21 sexual references (1 sexual gesture, a sculpture of a cat is shown numerous times with its tongue sticking out mechanically, and Cardi B’s song

 – “WAP” containing sexually suggestive lyrics is performed), 21 scatological terms, 36 anatomical terms (additional anatomical terms in the “WAP” performance), 11 mild obscenities, name-calling (losers, shady, dumb, basically white, the Asian girl, insane, grumpy, socially awkward, too weird, stupid, corn fed, barnacle, typical American, brainless foreigner, dead eye, bougee, cool cats, lame, self-involved), exclamations (oh my gosh, peace out, shut-up, grow up, finally), 1 religious profanity (GD), 16 religious exclamations (e.g. leave room for Jesus, God gap, oh my God, thank God every day, good Christian girl, oh God, God, Jesus Christ, Jesus). | profanity glossary |

Joy Ride SUBSTANCE USE

 – Officers search a train for someone smuggling drugs and five people ingest a lot of drugs and hide others in their body cavities, and a woman blows cocaine in the faces of four other people on a train to incriminate them and make them help her hide the drugs from authorities. People in a club drink many shots of liquor in an extended scene, people in a club drink a shot of liquor with what they say is a “thousand year old egg” in it, and people drink wine in a restaurant and shots of liquor at a family gathering.

Joy Ride DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Racism, friendship, knowing where you come from, adoption, disappointment, forgiveness, expectations, death of a parent, teenage pregnancy, lies, pursuit of perfection, competition, K-Pop, finding your family.

Joy Ride MESSAGE

 – Friends can help you get through the most difficult times.