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One Night in Miami | 2020 | R | – 1.4.7

content-ratingsWhy is “One Night in Miami” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language throughout.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes some references to sex, and cleavage revealing outfits, a couple of boxing matches, a house set on fire, several references to racism, a sabotaged singing performance, many arguments, and nearly 30 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.


Fictional account set on February 25, 1964, with Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) meeting in a hotel room in Miami, discussing, disagreeing and debating with each other on their roles in the civil rights movement, utilizing celebrity and views on religion. Also with Lance Reddick, Christian Magby, Joaquina Kalukango, Nicolette Robinson, Michael Imperioli, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Derek Roberts and Beau Bridges. Based on the stage play by Kemp Powers. Directed by Regina King. [Running Time: 1:54]

One Night in Miami SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man enters a hotel room and asks another man where the girls are. A man says that he wanted to have sex (using a crude term). A man says, “I like white women.”
 Men wearing boxing trunks are shown in a couple of scenes and their bare chests, abdomens, backs and legs are seen. A woman wears a one-piece swimsuit that reveals cleavage and bare legs to the hips. A woman wearing a low-cut and short dress (cleavage and legs to the thighs are shown) walks through a room with people seated at tables carrying a tray of cigarettes and other items. A man wearing swim trunks and a few women wearing swimsuits are shown around a swimming pool (the man’s bare chest, abdomen, back and legs are shown and the women’s cleavage, partial bare abdomen and back and legs are shown). A man wearing boxers and an open robe rushes out of his house (we see his bare chest and bare legs to the upper thighs).

One Night in Miami VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A man throws a Molotov cocktail into a house and it explodes in flames; we see a husband (armed with a rifle), his wife and three children rush out of the house, without injury. A couple of boxing sequences show two men fighting in a ring with heavy punches landing; one man is shown with a bloody face, a man is held against the ropes and punched in the abdomen and ribs several times, and a man is punched hard in the face and he falls to the mat dazed, as men at ringside yell and call out for their fighter to “Finish him off.”
 An elderly white man makes a crude racist remark (using the N-word) to a younger African-American man, as he explains that he is not allowed in the house. A man performs at a club, people react dismissively, and several people leave during his performance. Two men argue bitterly, one man says, “Your daddy should have beaten you better,” the other man lunges toward him and they are pulled apart by other men until they calm down. A man tells another man that he really bombed while performing at a club and the singer grabs the man by the lapels and shoves him out of the room while yelling at him. A man talks about men in positions of power running numbers and pushing drugs. A man starts to sing in a nightclub and the microphone cuts out; he sees that someone backstage has sabotaged the equipment and he sings a capella.
 A man tells another man that he is like a “monkey dancing on an organ grinder” when he sings for audiences of white people and the other man storms out of the room. A man talks about, “Light-skinned cats,” and that they sometimes suffer more at the hands of other African-Americans than from white people. A man says that he is changing his name because his given name is a “slave name.” Four men argue about religion, fame and the plight of African-Americans and how best to make a difference. A boxer talks with a lot of bluster in several scenes before and after fights. A man tells another man to “Tone down the rhetoric.” A man talks about a group of people, “Preaching a gospel of hate.” Two men argue about a singer using his own band members rather than a house band for his performance in a club. A man talks about his character in a movie being killed halfway through the movie. A man talks about a “Legacy of negativity.”

One Night in Miami LANGUAGE 7

 – About 28 F-words and its derivatives, 4 sexual references and innuendo, 28 scatological terms, 9 anatomical terms, 36 mild obscenities, 11 derogatory terms for African-American people, self-righteous, name-calling (idiot, stink the place up, natural-born demons, racist, truculent, bigots, devils, pretty little fox, rednecks, slug bug, young blood, unapologetic, so-called successful, white man hating demagogue, clowns, pushy, fool, purse thief, animal, ugly, militant, stupid, Muslim jive, crackers, heathen, sucka, haywire, paranoid, dirty, peacock, dumber, Mr. Know-It-All, brother, villain), exclamations (my goodness, yeah, hey, oh my goodness, shut-up, you blew your wig, lost your mind, mum’s the word, shut your [F-word deleted] mouth, wow, that’s what I’m talking about, come off it, ooh, thank goodness, good riddance, oh good grief, crabs in a barrel, touché), 5 religious profanities (GD), 12 religious exclamations (e.g. God, God Is Great, Allahu Akbar, Praise Allah, Jesus, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

One Night in Miami SUBSTANCE USE

 – People are shown with drinks at tables in a club setting, a man drinks a glass of whiskey, men drink beer from bottles in a hotel room, people drink in a diner, two men buy a bottle of liquor from a liquor store and drink from it, and three men drink from a flask. A woman walks through a room with people seated at tables carrying a tray of cigarettes and other items, and a man smokes a cigarette in a hotel room in a couple of scenes.

One Night in Miami DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Racism, Civil Rights, Nation of Islam, regrets, fame, celebrity, fads, oppression, heroes, consequences, empowerment, power.

One Night in Miami MESSAGE

 – The 1960s were a racist, turbulent era and successful African-Americans tried, each in their own way, to make a difference.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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