Why is “My Dead Friend Zoe” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few flirting scenes, some suggestive remarks, a suicide by gunshot, a man having fallen on the floor and injuring his head, discussions of an accident at a job and a charge of criminal negligence, discussions of Alzheimer’s Disease, scenes of people sharing experiences in a support group setting, several arguments, and about 27 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Inspired by a true story: After serving in Afghanistan, a woman (Sonequa Martin-Green) returns home and struggles to allow herself to move on with her life after the death of her friend and fellow veteran (Natalie Morales). Also with Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Gloria Reuben and Utkarsh Ambudkar. Directed by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes. [Running Time: 1:38]

My Dead Friend Zoe SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man and a woman flirt and stand close to each other. A man asks a woman out for a drink at a bar. A woman asks her daughter if she has a boyfriend. A man makes unwelcome remarks about women’s appearance in a few scenes. People talk about a person’s breasts.
► A person squirts mustard outlining the shape of breasts. A woman wears a low-cut T-shirt that reveals cleavage. A woman wears a low-cut tank T-shirt that reveals cleavage. A man wearing boxers and a T-shirt walks outside his cabin.

My Dead Friend Zoe VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A woman lies motionless on the floor with a gun next to her (we understand that she has committed suicide); we do not see the act or the wound. A flashback shows a woman with blood on her face and in her mouth, as she seems to be yelling. Several flashbacks show service people on guard at a military encampment in a war zone and carrying weapons. A woman finds a man on the floor when she returns home and he has blood on his head (we see him with a bandage later). A woman opens gates around a military encampment and holds two light sticks at her sides, seemingly inviting being shot, until another woman confronts her and pushes her back inside the gates.
► We hear that a woman dropped a forklift load of TVs and nearly crushed a coworker and she has been ordered by the court to participate in therapy sessions after being charged with criminal negligence. A woman tells her adult daughter that her grandfather is in the hospital after being found wandering; we hear that he has early stage Alzheimer’s. A woman says that her father died of cancer when she was 7 years old. A man says that he lost more people after returning home than he did in Iraq.
► A man yells at his adult granddaughter for mis-separating garbage and he dumps one can on the ground telling her to clean it up (we see garbage strewn on the ground). A woman yells at a man and lunges toward him after he speaks to another woman in a disrespectful manner. A man spits on the ground and walks away from his granddaughter when he thinks she is scheming to send him to a retirement home. A woman yells at a man for using a weed whacker in a cemetery. A woman tells her adult daughter that she has made a mess about a situation with her grandfather. A woman slaps herself hard in the face a few times. A woman imagines another woman and talks to her throughout the movie, often yelling or speaking when it is inappropriate, and other people react with concern. Veterans talk about their service in several support group sessions; one man talks about searching for IEDs. A woman describes her military service and being the only female and being in command. Two women argue about one of them wanting to go to college after her service and the other reenlisting. A comment is made about a woman being Black and that “You guys don’t last long in horror movies.” A woman tells another woman that she doesn’t have to face her demons alone. A woman walks through a cemetery and says that one person buried there probably died on D-Day. A man talks about his family being one of the first Indian families in the community. A woman talks about fearing when people die saying, “You won’t know who you are without them.” A woman talks about the struggles she has because she is a Black woman in America. A man describes being spat on when he returned home from serving in the Vietnam War, and being called a baby killer. People talk about people dying confused and alone. A woman talks about dying in a blaze of glory.
► We read that 2 decades after 9/11, over 127,000 American veterans died by suicide, 18 times more than were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
► Two women scrub latrines and we see feces. A woman picks at a bloody toenail after having gone running.

My Dead Friend Zoe LANGUAGE 7

 – About 27 F-words and its derivatives, 1 obscene hand gesture, 16 scatological terms, 8 anatomical terms, 13 mild obscenities, name-calling (messed up, dumbest wars, selfish, stupid, realist, goofball, rich kids, snowflakes, dumb, coward, yahoos, traitor, purgatory, baby killer, young lady, snot nose, entitled, pacifist, pessimist, weed-whacker, bogeyman, weirdly considerate, demons, crazy), exclamations (ew, jeez, woe is me, shut-up, stop, what do you care, what is wrong with you, get it together, kumbaya, oh please, whatever), 6 religious profanities (GD), 9 religious exclamations (e.g. God, oh my God, Jesus Christ, God’s green [mild obscenity deleted], thank God). | profanity glossary |

My Dead Friend Zoe SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man talks about people self-medicating after returning home from Vietnam. People drink cocktails and beer in a bar scene, a woman drinks vodka, and a man drinks a can of beer. A woman smokes cigarettes in a few scenes.

My Dead Friend Zoe DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – War, Afghanistan, Iraq, Desert Storm, Vietnam, D-Day, PTSD, veterans, fear, home, vulnerability, friendships, guilt, trauma, suicide, guilt about putting loved ones in assisted living communities, respect, self-medicating, divorce, Alzheimer’s disease.

My Dead Friend Zoe MESSAGE

 – Mental health support and smarter policies can help veterans face difficulties after returning home from war.