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tick, tick…Boom! | 2021 | PG-13 | – 5.2.4

content-ratingsWhy is “tick, tick…Boom!” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some strong language, some suggestive material and drug references.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, some kissing scenes between a man and a woman and two men, discussions of AIDS, several arguments, many scenes of a man stressing over his age and lack of success, we hear that a man died at the age of 35 from an aortic aneurysm, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.


Musical based on the life of Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield), a talented playwright and the man behind the super successful rock musical, “Rent.” Also with Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesus, Vanessa Hudgens, Joshua Henry, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Michaela Jaé (MJ) Rodriguez, Ben Ross, Judith Light, Bradley Whitford. Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. [Running Time: 1:55]

tick, tick…Boom! SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A man and a woman kiss and lie on a bed, the man moans and thrusts briefly and the scene ends. A man and a woman kiss in a few scenes. Two men kiss in a few scenes. A woman kisses a man on the cheek. A man and woman hug on a rooftop. Two men hug in several scenes.
 A man looks at a magazine with pictures of women wearing underwear (we see cleavage, bare abdomens, backs and legs to the hips) in a few scenes and seems to consider masturbating in one scene. A song lyric says, “It’s too late to have sex (using a crude sexual term).” A man swims in a pool and watches a woman standing on the side of the pool wearing a swimsuit (cleavage and bare legs to the hips are seen); he imagines that she is his girlfriend.
 A man says that he is HIV positive.
 A man is shown shirtless and wearing swim trunks in a few scenes (we see his bare chest, back, abdomen and legs). A woman’s dress is low-cut in the back and reveals her bare back. A woman wears a low-cut sweater that reveals cleavage. A mural on a wall features nude people and it is not clear what gender the people are, but their genital area is covered; we do see bare chests and abdomens. Shirtless men are seen in the background of a locker room (we see bare chests, abdomens and backs).

tick, tick…Boom! VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – We see several people in a hospital suffering from AIDS, connected to IVs and oxygen tubes.
 Two men argue bitterly. A man and a woman argue bitterly and the woman leaves. A man becomes upset and frustrated while working at a busy diner and being verbally accosted by customers; one man tells him, “This is why you’re just a waiter.” A man becomes angry and calls the power company when his power is cut off for lack of payment. A voice-over says, “We lost him.” A voice-over talks about a woman that fractured her ankle during a rehearsal just as she was making it as a dancer. An advertising representative talks about the side effects of a consumer product; they include toxic shock and full hair loss. A man worries about turning 30 and not having a Broadway hit yet. A man and woman argue and she says, “You’re such a baby.” People talk about apartment living in a city and refer to gas heaters that will blow up while you’re sleeping. People talk about poisoning planet Earth. A song lyric says, “I should go drop dead.” A man asks his adult son, “Are they paying you?” A woman describes an event as, “Not as bad as having a colonoscopy in the middle of Times Square.” A man says that he is HIV positive. We see a large boat moving along a river and a woman says that it is a prison barge.
 A man cleans a very full litter box and covers his face with his T-shirt to cover the smell.

tick, tick…Boom! LANGUAGE 4

 – 2 sexual references, 5 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 5 mild obscenities, name-calling (boo-boo, passé, bitter, envious, jealous, Bohemian, baby, fools, bums, rude, you son of a gun, ugliness, land of the dead, honey, insane, self-righteous, boy genius), exclamations (freaking, ow, hey, oh my gosh, oh wow, oh no, whoa), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. I swear to God, God forbid, oh my God, God, my God, Jesus Christ). | profanity glossary |

tick, tick…Boom! SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man says “drugs are the best,” and a man refers to having “smoked a bowl” with a friend. A man pours champagne, people drink and dance at a party, a woman sits at a table with a martini in front of her, two women stand in an elevator and hold champagne glasses, and a woman holds an empty wine glass. A man smokes a cigarette on a rooftop.

tick, tick…Boom! DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Musical theater, success, friendship, AIDS, rejection, careers, city living, side effects of consumer products, romance, fear of intimacy, innovation, satire, decisions, life choices, writers, aortic aneurysm, revolution, tragedy, creativity, advertising, Jesse Helms, the Moral Majority, getting older.

tick, tick…Boom! MESSAGE

 – Life is fleeting.

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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