What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this movie includes sexual references (primarily, men or boys ogling tight-dressed women), crude humor (jokes about a girl wearing braces and other boyish shenanigans), and some language (including the "N" word). As a coming of age story, the movie focuses on the ways a family copes with the recent death of the mother. Father-son tensions eventually lead to a fight, where son smashes his dad's car with a crowbar, and then tearful reconciliation.
- Families can talk about the death of the mother: how do father and son handle her loss differently and also similarly? Why does Curtis lie to his son (by omission) about not having a job? How does X's roller skating serve as an outlet and also a metaphor for his emotional maturation over the summer? And what about all those brand named goods all over the movie?