Widows | 2018 | R | – 7.6.10

Why is “Widows” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence, language throughout, and some sexual content/nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an explicit sex scene and some photos of people having sex with an implication of incest, male and female nudity, several scenes of beatings and gunfire that end in death, a van explosion that claims several people, and over 50 F-words. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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A twisty crime thriller set in Chicago about four women (Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo), who have nothing in common except having to deal with the illicit debts left behind by the criminal activities of their dead husbands. Also with Liam Neeson, Jon Bernthal, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Coburn Goss, Alejandro Verdin, Bailey Rhyse Walters, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya and Brian Tyree Henry. Directed by Steve McQueen. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Spanish with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:09]

Widows SEX/NUDITY 7

 – A man and a woman kiss passionately, she pushes the man onto a bed, she takes off her dress (we see her bare breasts and abdomen), he takes off his shirt (we see his bare chest and abdomen) and they kiss; he then climbs on top of her and he thrusts (we see his bare buttocks) until they are interrupted. A few times we see several photos of a man and a younger woman (we later hear that she is his niece) having sex in several positions (she holds a whip to his head in one shot) and they are both nude (bare breasts, chest, abdomens, buttocks and legs are seen).
► A husband and his wife kiss passionately while lying in bed together (bare shoulders are visible). A wife sits on her husband’s lap and they kiss. A wife remembers her husband holding her and kissing her on the head.
► A woman wearing a skintight low-cut dress (we see cleavage) meets a man in a bar and he asks her to join him at a hotel. A woman asks a man about his wife and he says that she is dead; the woman says that her husband just died and the two kiss. A woman shows her daughter a website for an escort service and suggests that she should work there; the daughter says that she will not sleep with men for money. A man quizzes a colleague about whether she has ever slept with an African-American man. A woman runs for a bus and men call after her, making rude remarks. A wife tells her husband, “I never thought I’d marry a white man or a criminal.”
► A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage. Women wear low-cut tops and dresses in a few scenes that reveal cleavage. Women are shown wrapped with towels in a sauna (bare shoulders and cleavage are seen). A man stands in a shower (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back). A woman wears a low-cut night gown that reveals cleavage and bare legs to the thighs in a couple of scenes.

Widows VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 - Two men are found in a sports equipment trunk and they are led out to a gym where they are surrounded by other men; they are questioned, forced to rap and one man shoots one of them in the head, tells the other to run and shoots him in the back (blood sprays and pools under their bodies). A man stabs a man in the shoulder and pushes him out of his wheelchair (we see blood on the wound and the floor), then stabs his leg three times (we see blood) and in the back again before holding the knife to his throat. A teenage boy does a U-turn on a street and police stop him; the boy reaches to put something in the glove compartment as police officers approach and one shoots him three times (blood sprays on the inside of the car). A man draws a gun on a woman and she shoots him in the chest (we see a bloody wound after he falls to the floor dead). A man shoots a woman in the shoulder and she shoots him (he lands on top of her on the floor and we see blood on the wounds as the woman is helped to a van).
► Police open fire on a van with several men inside in a garage and the van explodes into two parts (we see the driver thrashing as he is struck by bullets). Four women in a car chase a man in a van, they ram him from behind and he swerves and crashes into a divider (we see the man dead with a badly mangled and bloody face). Several men in a van speed away as they are shot at and one man is struck in the abdomen (we see blood on his shirt and mouth); they throw things out of the back of the van as police cars chase and a car flips on its side as they get away.
► Two women slap each other hard in the face. A man and a woman argue and he hits her in the face (she falls to the floor). Several men force their way into a man's apartment and quiz him for information; one man turns up the TV volume as the other men beat the man off-screen (we hear thuds and grunts and understand that they kill the man). A security guard opens a door and a gun is held to his head before he is tasered and zip tied. Flares are thrown into several parked cars that catch fire and police speed to the scene. Three people with guns move through a house, a woman opens a door to see them and they hold guns on her (she backs into a room and closes the door). Two women take target practice. A man holds a gun to a woman's head and steals her van leaving her and three others on the side of the road. A woman with a bloody shoulder wound collapses outside a hospital.
► A woman has a black eye and a man pokes it asking if it hurts (he apparently hits her). A man forces his way into a woman's apartment and threatens her; he then picks up a dog and holds it by the nape (we hear the dog cry). Several men tear merchandise off mannequins and shelves in a store as a woman yells at them demanding that hey leave or she will call the police; we hear that her husband spent all their money on gambling and that the men are collecting his debt. We see people looking at guns at a gun show and a woman convinces another woman to buy guns for her saying that she has no ID since she is a "mail-order bride."
► Two men (they are father and son) argue bitterly and one threatens to beat the other up. A woman yells and cries in grief after her husband dies. A woman blames her daughter-in-law for her son's death and says, "His blood is on your hands." Two men argue over an election. A man in a wheelchair says that a debt landed him there (presumably after a beating). A woman accuses her mother of driving her husband into the ground and taking care of herself before her children; the mother hits her daughter on the side of the head. A reporter grills a politician about an audit and potential financial irregularities. A man and a woman argue in a few scenes. A man talks about a fight against, "People who come here illegally or can't stop making babies." Two men talk about a man being dead and taking their money with him (after a robbery). A woman punches a heavy bag for several seconds.
► We see several funerals in churches and cemeteries and we see a coffin lowered into the ground. We see a funeral at a church and see a young man's body in a coffin. A man spits a piece of gum out and sticks it on the end of a rifle barrel on a statue. A woman says that an apartment smells like a dead rat. We hear a toilet flush off-screen. A statue of Jesus is shown with streaks of blood on the face.

Widows LANGUAGE 10

 - About 56 F-words and its derivatives, 3 sexual references, 34 scatological terms, 15 anatomical terms, 14 mild obscenities, 3 derogatory terms for African-Americans, name-calling (crazy, coward, sloppy, player, stupid, cold old [mild obscenity deleted], evil bastard, red-headed paper weight, idiot), 11 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, God Rest Her Soul, God's Honest Truth, Thank God, Act Of God, Jesus [F-word deleted] Christ). | profanity glossary |

Widows SUBSTANCE USE

 - A woman takes a bag containing marijuana, a woman find s a bag of marijuana and leaves it on a table, people drink alcohol in a bar scene, and we see many pill vials on a table as a man pours out several to take. A woman drinks vodka at a bar (other patrons are shown with drinks in the background), two men drink glasses of whiskey, two women drink champagne in a spa, a man pours two glass of whiskey and two men drink, and a woman drinks a shot from a flask in a couple of scenes. A man smokes a cigarette on a boat, and a woman smokes a cigarette.

Widows DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - Politics, corruption, crime, impoverished communities, name recognition, regret, death of a child, nepotism, protection money, infidelity, loyalty, betrayal, Chicago, kickbacks, the Black Panthers, ignorance, consequences, death of loved ones.

Widows MESSAGE

 - Survival is a powerful motivator.