Military Wives | 2019 | PG-13 | – 3.2.5

Why is “Military Wives” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some strong language and sexual references.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a kissing scene and suggestive references and cleavage revealing outfits; a scene of the notification of the death of a man, conversations about the death of a man and his parents’ grief, reports of military deployment, many arguments, several scenes of people drinking to excess, and about 5 F-words (2 audible) and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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Inspired by true events, it is the story of several British military wives, who tried to find a way to distract themselves after their partners were deployed to fight in Afghanistan in 2001. When they created a singing group, they had no idea of the positive impact it would have on their lives. With Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan, Emma Lowndes, Gaby French, Lara Rossi, Amy James-Kelly and India Ria Amarteifio. Directed by Peter Cattaneo. [Running Time: 1:52]

Military Wives SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A husband and his wife kiss and hug and fall back into a closet (the scene ends). Two teddy bears are shown on a bookshelf, posed in a sexual position, and a woman says that this is something her husband has been doing since before they were married.
► Several men whistle at a teen girl as she walks past them and her mother is alarmed. A husband wearing military issue Kevlar underwear enters a bedroom where he tells his wife that they will protect the “family jewels” for her pleasure. A woman suggests getting a case of beer and ordering strippers for a group activity. A woman talks about marrying her husband before his first deployment and that her parents thought that she was pregnant (she was not); another woman says that she and her husband married because her husband wanted her to be his “next of kin.” A woman in a bar drinks and sings a karaoke song while thrusting her hips and squeezing her clothed breast as others watch and cheer. Two women argue bitterly, and one talks about the other’s teen daughter being “like a cat on heat” and that someone will likely impregnate her. A woman makes a joke about being in trouble for having a “blow-up doll.” A woman asks a man for bandages (plasters) for another woman’s’ chafed nipples because she forgot to wear a bra.
► A woman sits in a bathtub (we see her bare shoulders). A woman packs a care package for her partner and we see photos of women wearing skimpy lingerie (we see cleavage, bare abdomens, and legs) from a magazine and she glues pictures of her own face on the pictures, with a doodled mustache. A woman changes her clothes in a car (we see her bare back) as a man in a truck next to her whistles at her. Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in several scenes.

Military Wives VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – Two men knock on a woman’s door and we understand that they are delivering news that her husband was killed in action; we see a funeral later with many mourners gathered and soldiers fire guns in the air in a salute. A woman gets a call that her husband has been wounded in action and will be returning home (we see him in the hospital and with wounds on his face and arm and we later see him limping). A woman talks about her son not being able to have an open casket and another woman suspects that her husband, after being killed in service, will need a lid also.
► Several references are made to the loss of a young man in a recent deployment. A woman asks another woman if she talks about it all the time (referring to the death of her son and her husband’s deployment). We hear radio reports of the numbers of dead and wounded during the Afghan war. We hear TV reports of bombings and suicide bombers and we hear that “comms are down” in a few scenes. A woman and a teen girl talk about death and dying.
► Women jump whenever their phones ring or their doorbells ring anticipating bad news. A woman says that she feels “sick all the time” after her husband is deployed. A woman watches videos of her now deceased son as a child.
► Two women argue bitterly and one talks about the other’s teen daughter being “like a cat on heat” and that someone will likely impregnate her, and then throws her shoes on the ground angrily; the other woman calls the first woman “uptight” and makes references to understanding why her husband volunteered for another tour and that she doesn’t have anything to do because she doesn’t have any kids to take care of (the other woman’s son died). Two women argue in several scenes. A woman and her teen daughter argue in several scenes. Two women argue and another woman says, “This is what it was like when my parents got divorced.” Two women are annoyed by another woman when she comes into a shop and moves in front of one of them at the register. A woman makes a comment about it not typically being her job to get her hands dirty (because of her husband’s military rank). A woman tells another woman that she can’t just be “part of the gang,” and that she needs to take on a leadership role in a group. Women talk about the movie “Sister Act” and one woman says that their choir will be like that but “without the Mafia hitmen and the God bit.” A woman talks about not making a choir into a sober karaoke. A woman says that she drank two bottles of wine, smoked a pack of cigarettes and threw up in her now husband’s parent’s garden one night. A teen girl falls on the sidewalk outside a woman’s home and she appears drunk; the woman helps her inside and the teen lies on her sofa saying, “stop it spinning”; the next morning she asks the woman if she “puked” (she did not). A woman tells another woman that if teens see their parents drinking, they tend to drink too after the second woman’s teen daughter stumbles home drunk one night. A woman jokes that singing in a particular way will cause the members of a choir to “lose the will to live.” A woman talks about her husband having always been in care and that he only has her and the army.
► Several women run to get out of the rain when they are hiking and find shelter in a tunnel. A woman jumps when a young boy shoots her with a toy gun.

Military Wives LANGUAGE 5

 – About 5 F-words (3 are mouthed), 3 sexual references, 19 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 3 mild obscenities, name-calling (coy, silly, witches, dramatic, pushy, stupid, lucky, weird, uptight, crass sentimental, naughty), exclamations (chuffed, wow, cheer up, boom, get lost), 13 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh God, God’s Way, God, Jesus, Oh My God). | profanity glossary |

Military Wives SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman drinks a glass of whisky, a woman goes to a shop to buy wine, a woman describes a pot-luck dinner as people bringing a dish and getting drunk, a woman describes choir practices and says that there will be a few beers afterward, women drink glasses of wine and from bottles of beer in several scenes throughout the movie, a teen girl falls in the street after getting drunk (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), several women trying to learn how to knit give up and bring out bottles of wine and beer that we see mostly empty on the table the next morning, a woman talks about trying to come up with activities in a non-alcoholic environment (other women scoff at the idea), and women in a bar drink and sing karaoke. A man smokes outside.

Military Wives DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Military lives, death of a child in war, death of a partner, friendship, support systems, appropriateness, control, duty, coping.

Military Wives MESSAGE

 – Without a solid support group, the partners of serving military people have a very difficult time getting through deployments.