Good Boys

image for Good Boys

Short takes

Not suitable under 15; parental guidance to 15 (language, substance use, sexual references, adult humour)

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 Good Boys
  • a review of Good Boys completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 24 September 2019.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 15 Not suitable due to coarse language, drug and alcohol use, strong sexual references, and crude adult humour.
Children aged 15 Parental guidance recommended due to coarse language, drug and alcohol use, strong sexual references, and crude adult humour.
Children aged 16 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: Good Boys
Classification: MA15+
Consumer advice lines: Strong crude sexual humour and coarse language
Length: 90 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

When 12-year-old ‘Bean Bag Boys’, Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams), are invited to a “kissing party”, they borrow Max’s father’s drone to spy on their teenage neighbours, Hannah (Molly Gordon) and Lily (Midori Francis), to get some mouth-to-mouth inspiration. After the girls capture the drone and refuse to give it back, the boys hatch a plan to replace it before Max’s dad finds out and stops them from going to the party. Things get complicated when the boys realise they have accidentally stolen MDMA (aka ecstasy/Molly) from Hannah and Lily, who will do anything to get it back.

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.

Divorce; Friendship; Underage drinking; Drug use

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:

  • Men are shot with a paintball gun (particularly in the groin)
  • A child is punched in the face by an adult man – this is comedic.

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.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • A young boy flies off his bike and into the side of a van – his shoulder is visibly dislocated
  • Young boys try to pop a dislocated shoulder back into its socket
  • When Lucas dislocates his shoulder, he screams in pain. This scene is a bit grisly and may distress children
  • A boy in a Halloween mask jump scares Max at his bedroom window – this is comedic but may scare younger children.

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.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Three boys run across a highway causing a car pile-up and causing a sex doll to fly out the windshield of a car. The doll is initially thought to be a real person, making Lucas vomit.

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.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Nothing further noted.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • MacBook Air
  • iPhone
  • Samsung smartphone
  • Orangette Soda
  • Beats headphones
  • Converse shoes
  • Nike Shoes
  • Red Bull
  • Foot Locker
  • KFC
  • Starbucks.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • A young boy’s father talks about masturbation to him.
  • Frequent references to hand-jobs and blow-jobs.
  • References to French kissing.
  • Frequent references to erections.
  • Sex toys (e.g., dildos, ball-gags, BDSM items, sex swings, etc.) are frequently seen in the film and used as ‘weapons’ by the children.
  • A sex doll is seen and interacted with (in a non-sexual way) several times.

Nudity and sexual activity

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

  • Young boys watch porn – This is not visible but they vaguely narrate what is happening.
  • A young boy enlarges the breasts of a video game avatar – It is implied this gives him an erection.
  • Kids go to a “kissing party” where they play spin the bottle and kiss each other.

Use of substances

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

  • Cocaine is referenced, is used by a teacher, and young students pretend to use it during a musical.
  • MDMA (ecstasy/Molly) is a central focus of the film and is taken by two adult women.
  • Alcohol – Underage drinking.
  • A college student smokes marijuana with a bong and blows the smoke into a young boy’s face.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Frequent use of ‘fuck’
  • Shit
  • Bitch
  • Tits
  • Dick
  • Cock
  • Skank
  • Ass
  • Hell.

In a nutshell

Good Boys is an adult, gross-out style comedy, which, while inappropriate for children under 15, is well made and has great performances from the central characters. This film will likely entertain adults and older teenagers but is inappropriate for children under 15 due to coarse language, strong sexual references, alcohol and drug use, and adult crude humour.

The main messages from this movie are that friends are more important than being ‘popular’ and friendships grow and change, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stay close.

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

  • Looking out for your friends when they need your help
  • Being truthful can solve more situations than lying.

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

  • Underage drinking and substance use
  • Skipping school.