Mea Culpa | 2024 | R | – 8.6.7

Why is “Mea Culpa” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language, some violence and drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few sex scenes with full nudity in a couple of them, a scene of a brothel-type establishment with many couples having sex, a few scenes of people fighting with knives, a near strangulation, punches being exchanged in a fight, a car being driven into an oncoming truck leaving a man dead with bloody wounds, a gunshot, many scenes of arguments with insulting language exchanged, many discussions of sexual activity, discussions of infidelity, and about 25 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A criminal defense attorney (Kelly Rowland), defending an artist (Trevante Rhodes) accused of murdering his girlfriend, is disrespected by her alcoholic non-working spouse (Nick Sagar), his mom (Kerry O’Malley), and her brother-in-law (Sean Sagar). She then has an affair with the artist and uncovers sinister family secrets among her in-laws. Also with RonReaco Lee, Shannon Thornton and Angela Robinson. Directed by Tyler Perry. [Running Time: 2:00]

Mea Culpa SEX/NUDITY 8

 – In an extended scene, a woman follows a man down a staircase that is dimly lit with red light and at the bottom is a dimly lit hallway with silhouettes of women writhing and we hear several sexual moans; the woman passes through a plastic curtain and sees dimly lit cubicles where men and women are having sex (we hear loud moaning) and we see several women facing the camera, sitting on what appears to be a man’s groin (bare breasts are evident) as the women pump their hips; a shirtless man (his bare back and shoulders are seen) is bent over in a close-up between a woman’s feet and seems to be performing oral sex (we hear the woman groan); we see a few bare female buttocks and shoulders among the silhouettes and shadows, and a shirtless man (bare chest and abdomen are visible) approaches the first woman, asking if she wants to have sex and says, “I got X,” causing the woman to leave quickly.
► A married woman and a single man kiss as they disrobe and he pours melted candle wax and paint over her back; they have sex on the floor, while moaning and grunting, and we see them in profile (we see the man’s shoulders, side, buttocks and legs, and the woman’s bare shoulders, cleavage, a hip and leg).
► A nude woman enters a man’s apartment (we see full front and back nudity with a shadow covering her genital area), the man is shirtless (his bare chest, abdomen, back and shoulders are seen) and the woman kneels with her back to the camera while seeming to perform oral sex on the man; a married woman also there leaves when the other two people approach a bed and when the elevator won’t work, she looks toward the bed, where the man is on his back and the woman is sitting on his groin area (we see only his bare shoulders and arms), as he massages her breasts while her genital area is obscured in shadow; the woman leaves but returns after receiving a call that her husband is with another woman in a hotel, and the nude woman quickly leaves (we see her topless).
► A woman wearing a knee-length skirt and bra (cleavage, bare back and abdomen are seen) stands at a washroom mirror and a shirtless man (his bare shoulders, abdomen, chest and back are shown) embraces her from behind, but she does not react; he later kisses her on the top of the head and leaves. Two couples hold hands briefly and a man kisses a woman on the cheek.
► We hear that a male artist seduces women, including two married women, by teaching them to paint a simple scene, painting their portrait over it, and then hanging it over the ceiling above his bed where they have sex; we see a woman peel back several layers of a painting and she screams, she then finds such a painting at her sister-in-law’s house and looks stunned. A man says that he is not a womanizer.
► A few women wear low-cut formal dresses that reveal cleavage. Several women wear one-piece swimsuits (cleavage, bare shoulders and legs are visible) and a few men are shirtless (bare chests, abdomens and backs are seen). We see a woman in a bathtub (her bare shoulders are visible). A painting shows a large abstract, misshapen breast above a blob meant to be a hip. In a poster, we see a marble image of a man’s torso.

Mea Culpa VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A woman’s phone rings and another woman knocks it to the floor and smashes it with her knee, then grabs a carving knife and attacks the first woman, slicing across her blouse (we see a bloody slash), they struggle and fistfight, and the second woman shouts to another woman that enters to stab the first woman; a man punches a woman in the face, chokes her, then points a handgun indiscriminately, and another woman hits him over the head with a heavy object; a woman then stabs another woman in the abdomen with the knife, below the screen, and the victim falls, presumably dead.
► A woman gets in her car and starts it, but a man opens her door, chokes her as another woman jumps onto the hood of the car and the driver careens into a tree, throwing the woman on the hood onto the ground (she rolls but seems to be alive, while the driver escapes), runs along the road, stops a car, gets in, and the driver threatens to kill her, punching her in the face as he drives; she cries and shouts, “They tried to kill me,” as she grabs the steering wheel, driving into an oncoming semi-truck; she is uninjured and he is thrown onto the pavement with a large bloody gash dripping from his head, and is presumably dead. A woman punches another woman in the face, hits her on the head with a heavy pan and a gunshot rings out but no one is struck.
► At a meeting with a man and his mother, a woman hears that her husband (the other man’s brother) lost his job because of drinking and drug taking at work in a hospital, and he is in rehab and unemployed because of her; the man’s mother snarls and yells at his wife, blaming her again for her son’s problems, and accuses her of faking having cancer to get her other son a lot of sympathy votes when he runs for mayor. A woman in an apartment sees a man and another woman having sex and becomes frustrated when the elevator won’t work to take her away from the area; she looks at the man as he grins at her, she screams for him to turn the power on in the elevator and he laughs and does so.
► A successful attorney suffers harsh verbal abuse from her alcoholic, non-working husband, his brother, their mother, and a man she is defending on a murder charge, in many scenes; this continues throughout the movie. Several loud arguments occur between a woman and several other people, sometimes with loud screaming. A man is accused of killing his girlfriend and female protesters demonstrate loudly outside his art gallery twice, chanting “Your painting, her blood,” and “He killed her,” many times; a woman rushes out the door and calls them profane names and makes a hand gesture, but they continue. We hear that a dead woman’s skull fragments, blood, hair, and DNA were found on one of the accused artist’s paintings. We hear a recording of a woman shouting, “He’s going to kill me. He killed me.”
► We see a large portrait of a woman covered with letters in red stating, “Die bitch, you ruined my life.” We see two photos of a floor covered in blood. We see a rifle in an online video game, but it does not shoot.

Mea Culpa LANGUAGE 7

 – About 25 F-words and its derivatives, 12 sexual references, 14 scatological terms, 6 anatomical terms, 17 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-American people, name-calling (stupid, snake, old broad, insane, psychopath, sadistic, weak, ridiculous), exclamations (heck, shut-up), 4 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, oh my Lord, my God, God forbid). | profanity glossary |

Mea Culpa SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man tells a woman that he has “X” (we do not see any being used), and a man smokes a marijuana cigarette on a balcony. Three adults hold large glasses of wine at home (we do not see them drink), a man pours two glasses of whiskey and he and a woman both sip some, adults in a restaurant sip from glasses of wine and a woman says another woman is drunk (we hear a few slurred words from her), a woman says to a man that he reeks of alcohol and we hear that he is an alcoholic in rehab, a man drinks from a beer bottle at home as he plays a video game, and a woman pours a glass of whiskey, drinks it and a woman visiting her declines a drink. A man smokes a cigarette indoors.

Mea Culpa DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Politics, money, power, deception, faking serious illness, faking death, manipulation, corruption, domestic abuse, racial abuse, misogyny, interracial families, anger, embarrassment, longing, seduction, alcoholism, murder, regret, truth, justice, starting over.

Mea Culpa MESSAGE

 – Politics often involves lies, addictions, and misogyny.