Why is “The Roses” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language throughout, sexual content, and drug content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few sex scenes with partial nudity, sexual advances, many discussions of sex, guns being discharged in a gun club shooting range and in a home causing property damage, a building collapse during a storm, a woman suffering allergic reactions to fruit, a beached whale, arguments about divorce and property, many arguments containing cruel insults and yelling, and at least 68 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When the careers of a married couple (Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman) prove difficult to balance with a family life, their relationship begins to fall apart and they struggle to get back to the tenderness they felt for each other when they first met and married. Also with Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg, Ncuti Gatwa, Sunita Mani, Zoë Chao, Jamie Demetriou, Delaney Quinn, Hala Finley, Ollie Robinson, Wells Rappaport and Allison Janney. Directed by Jay Roach. [Running Time: 1:45]

The Roses SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A man and a woman have sex in a food storage closet in a restaurant and a woman walks in on them; the man thrusts (his bare buttock and legs are shown) while standing in front of the seated woman (she has her leg wrapped around his waist) and they both moan.
► A man and a woman meet and talk in a restaurant kitchen after wondering about leaving the country together; the woman says, “We haven’t even had sex yet,” and the man says, “That’s just moments away,” and they touch hands, rush into a food storage locker and begin removing their clothing as they kiss (no nudity is shown). A man and a woman lie in bed and prepare to have sex as the scene ends.
► A married woman makes several sexual advances toward a married man and in one scene she hugs him and thrusts her hips against his groin while moaning and telling him that she has an open marriage; her husband stands nearby telling her they hadn’t finalized that agreement yet. A husband and wife argue and one says, “I guess sex is off the table”; they continue talking and agree to have sex. A woman remarks that a man performs oral sex on random truck drivers in a parking lot. A teen girl says that she had her first period and it started while she was wearing a white swimsuit at a pool party and that everyone laughed. A woman describes a sexual manifestation while eating something.
► After eating psychedelic mushrooms, people in a restaurant begin removing their clothing and acting inebriated (we see a man’s bare chest and abdomen). A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage.

The Roses VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A woman shoots a gun at a man repeatedly hitting walls, cabinets and items and breaking things (he is not struck); he throws an orange at her hitting her in the head, he throws a knife at her (he narrowly misses her), and she shoots a chandelier hanging over a table and it falls nearly hitting him. A woman eats a cake containing raspberries (she is allergic) and a man tells her to sign a document threatening to not give her an EpiPen dose if she does not. A woman eats something containing raspberries and begins to have trouble breathing until she is injected with an EpiPen (this happens in a few scenes). Gas from a stove leaks and spreads through a house as a man asks his house AI to light a fireplace.
► A large storm blows through an area causing roads to be closed and we watch as part of an oceanfront building sways and tips before collapsing and causing the roof to also collapse (we see and hear glass shatter and people in the area watch in disbelief); the collapse is shown numerous times as a video plays on the internet. While jogging on a beach a man finds a beached whale; he and several other people help it back into the water.
► A man burns a woman’s prized cookbooks and pounds on a stove breaking the gas pipe inside it. A woman throws two live crabs into a bathtub with a man and he jumps up yelling. A man locks the doors of a room where a woman is sleeping and plays loud music as she yells. People go to a gun club where they take target practice; several of the people say that they loathe guns and one woman says that the gun she is using was used to shoot an intruder. A man guzzles several glasses of liquor on a plane and becomes inebriated and belligerent, yelling at a flight attendant about throwing away a napkin that he drew on; police arrive to escort the man off the plane. A woman prepares a deepfake of her husband smoking crack from a pipe and confessing to a building collapse. A woman drinks shots of liquor in a restaurant and becomes inebriated; she stumbles into her hotel room, vomits in a bathtub (we hear splatter but do not see goo) and collapses on the floor. A young girl eats a lot of sugary food and says that she feels sick; she vomits and we see goo and hear splatter. A woman serves a cake at a dinner party and digs her hands into it, throwing portions at the people seated around the table. A woman enters a meeting room with a large dog to negotiate divorce terms and the dog barks at the opposing counsel a few times.
► A man and a woman argue about getting a divorce and their teen children congratulate them for making the right decision. A woman talks to a man about his reputation being ruined and she tells him about a project that she is working on; he becomes upset and yells and pounds on the walls of a bathroom while on a plane. A man is fired from his job while driving in his car with his children and they are alarmed when suicide is mentioned; the man stops the car, gets out holding his chest and hyperventilating and collapses on the ground (he is OK). A husband and his wife are seated in a therapy session and asked to list the 10 things that they love about each other; they each read off their lists that contain cruel and insulting items. A man accuses a woman of never being around for their children and she says, “Shut your stupid, stupid mouth.” A man tells a woman that he needs a moment so that he won’t kill himself in front of his colleagues. A man says that a balcony would be a “cool place to suicide.” Two young teens are sent to a school for gifted athletes. A woman tries to give her young children ice cream sandwiches and they refuse, saying that they signed a contract with their father; the woman becomes upset and confronts the man. A man talks about married couples wanting to skin each other alive. A wife tells her husband, “Never leave me, but if you do, kill me on the way out.” A woman says that it is not foggy in England any longer, since “Jack the Ripper died.” A woman admits to being “stoned.” A young girl asks her father why he is “so cross” at her mother. People ask a man and a woman if they are OK in several scenes, when they sense trouble in their relationship. A man draws a house design on a woman’s bare back while they lie in bed together (sex is implied and we see the man’s bare chest and abdomen, and the woman’s bare back and shoulders).
► A teen girl says that she had her first period and it started while she was wearing a white swimsuit at a pool party and that everyone laughed. A young boy urinates outside his house and we see the stream. A man combs his daughter’s hair with a nit comb and remarks that it’s like a plague while discussing how to kill lice. A reference is made to a woman having “chronic yeast infections.” A man says that his daughter had bleeding eczema on her foot. A man uses a cheese grater to grate a callus off his toe (he says that he is adding it to food prepared by his wife).

The Roses LANGUAGE 10

 – About 68 F-words and its derivatives, 3 obscene hand gestures, 13 sexual references, 18 scatological terms, 13 anatomical terms, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (diseased, wanker, bad father, very adequate, unprofessional, traitor, knucklehead, jealous, cry like a baby, whining baby, crazy, wounded toddler, careless, cruel, nightmarish death spiral, ferocious, putz, bottom feeding, sociopathic, pit of need, appalling, needy, bore, boring, whore, cheap [F-word deleted], dumb, crushed, dizzying hatred, narcissist, toxic, idiot, horrible, ridiculous, embarrassed), exclamations (gosh, wow, what’s the point, shut-up), 23 religious exclamations (e.g. dear God, oh God, thank God, Jesus, my God, Christ). | profanity glossary |

The Roses SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man makes a comment about someone having a rucksack full of coke, a woman smokes marijuana cigarettes in a few scenes, a woman prepares a deepfake video of her husband smoking crack, a man says that a woman is allergic to weed and another woman blows the smoke in the woman’s face causing her to cough, people in a restaurant eat psychedelic mushrooms unbeknownst to them and act inebriated, and a woman admits to being “stoned.” People drink wine with a meal in a restaurant, people drink champagne on a plane, a woman drinks many cocktails and wine and shots of liquor at a dinner party, a man and a woman drink liquor on a plane and the man orders several more drinks and guzzles them, people drink shots of vodka in a restaurant, people drink shots of liquor in a restaurant, and people drink beer and liquor at a party. A woman smokes in a restaurant.

The Roses DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Married couples growing apart, jealousy, resentment, verbal cruelty, love, public adoration, sacrifice, hatred, expectations, narcissism, courage, shame, food allergies, suicide, failure, grief, Julia Child, discontent.

The Roses MESSAGE

 – Marriage can be hard, and for some people very hard.