A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

image for A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

Short takes

Not suitable under 15; parental guidance to 16 (language, themes, sexual references)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
  • a review of A Big Bold Beautiful Journey completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 23 September 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 15 Not suitable due to language, themes and sexual references.
Children aged 15–16 Parental guidance recommended due to language, themes and sexual references.
Children aged 17 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Mature themes and coarse language
Length: 109 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Renting separate cars from a random, obscure, and somewhat mystical, agency David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) wind up meeting at a mutual friends’ wedding. From the first moment, there seems to be something between them but both are battling personal demons and neither is brave enough to make anything happen. Lucky for them, David’s car seems to have other plans. When David agrees with his GPS to embark on a big, bold, beautiful journey, his car takes him to Sarah and Sarah’s car breaks down. Together, they set off on an illuminating adventure of self-discovery – they walk through doors that lead to traumatic or profound moments in their pasts and re-examine some of their most difficult days, along with some of their darkest hours. They also begin to get to know one another in a very real and raw way, and soon discover the healing power of bringing the most vulnerable parts of themselves out of the shadows and into the light.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Emotional avoidance; Family dysfunction; Self-sabotage; Unresolved trauma; Loneliness; Regret; Isolation.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Sarah tries to stab David with a fork.
  • David hits a deer with the car he is driving, killing the deer and flipping the car over and over before it comes to a stop on the road. He and Sarah are both uninjured but the car bursts into flames.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing further noted.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Characters eat Whoppers with cheese at Burger King and Sarah states that she eats them every day. Onion rings are also mentioned and eaten.
  • Whitman’s Chocolates (specifically the sample box) are carried and clearly displayed.
  • U2, West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie and Pac Man are all on posters displayed in a room.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • One character tells another that they will need to give the, “kiss of life”.
  • Sarah talks about how she cheated on her previous boyfriends so that she would hurt them before they could hurt her.
  • Sarah recounts how she “was screwing” her professor while her mom died in the hospital all alone.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Sarah is seen sitting on a bed in a hotel room while a man takes his shirt off.
  • Sarah caresses David’s bare back.
  • Sarah and David kiss.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Characters drink at a wedding reception.
  • David asks Sarah if she would like a drink. She declines.
  • Men smoke cigarettes in the waiting room of a hospital.
  • In a hypothetical statement, Sarah informs David that he would have gotten her a white wine.
  • Sarah mentions a love of dry white wine.

Coarse language

There is frequent coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Fuck: Fuck Yeah!, Fuck me so very hard, Fuck’s sake, Mother fucking, Mother fucker, Shut the fuck up!
  • Shit
  • Bullshit
  • Crap
  • Prick
  • Asshole
  • Coward
  • “Jesus” and “God” used as frustrated expletives.

In a nutshell

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a romantic, fantasy film that sometimes feels as though you are watching a theatre production. The plot is clever and unique, while the cinematography ranges from spartan to surreal. The film is best suited to audiences over the age of 16.

The main messages from this movie are that ‘life is better if you are open’; that everyone is capable of being content, they just have to choose to be; and that there are some doors which lead to your past, some that lead to your future, some that lead to heartbreak and others to healing and that there are some doors which have the potential to change absolutely everything.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Vulnerability
  • Honesty
  • Courage
  • Trust
  • Compassion.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Engaging in reckless behaviour to try to protect your heart from being hurt.
  • Ignoring or supressing emotional trauma.
  • Refusing to take chances or live your life because someone, at some point, didn’t think you were worthy.