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Polite Society | 2023 | PG-13 | – 3.6.5
Why is “Polite Society” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong language, violence, sexual material, and some partial nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing scenes, an implied sex scene, a man evaluating and searching for a suitable wife, many fight scenes with martial arts attacks leaving bloody wounds, many arguments, discussions of sacrifice for marriage, and at least 2 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.
When a teen girl’s (Priya Kansara) older sister (Ritu Arya) announces her engagement, the teen suspects that the fiancé’s family has dark motives, and engages her friends to help break up the relationship. Also with Renu Brindle, Rekha John-Cheriyan, Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri. Directed by Nida Manzoor. [Running Time: 1:43]
Polite Society SEX/NUDITY 3
– A man and a woman kiss in several scenes. A woman wakes up in a man’s bed (sex is implied).
► A woman wakes up in a panic when she realizes she has started her menstrual cycle and there is blood on the sheets; she tells a man, “I have a heavy flow.” A man is surrounded by many women at a party at his parent’s home. A woman talks with several other women about her son trying to find someone to marry and that he is too picky. A teen girl makes fun of a man searching for his future wife at a party where many “eligible” women have been invited.
► Two teen girls disguise themselves as teen boys and walk through a men’s locker room in a gym and we see several nude men (revealing backs, abdomens, legs to the upper thighs and buttocks visible). A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage in several scenes. Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in a few scenes.
Polite Society VIOLENCE/GORE 6
– A woman and a teen girl fight with punches and kicks and one slams the other’s head into a mirror shattering the glass and we see her bloody forehead; one burns the other’s face with a flat iron (we hear a sizzle), one is kicked through a door and one is held in a chokehold while the other bites her on the arm (we see bloody teeth marks and rubble on the floor). Two teen girls argue and mock each other in several scenes and they fight in one scene with many other teens gathered around them and watching: one girl is thrown into a bookcase shattering the glass, one yells at the other, “Your dad doesn’t love you,” a bystander is kicked and knocked to the floor, and one of the first two girls is kicked and falls to the floor on her back moaning, gets up and tries a jumping spin kick and misses her target crashing to the floor again. A woman hits a teen girl in the face, knocks her to the ground, straddles her and chokes her; she revives and spins in the air kicking the woman in the face while another woman head-butts a man in the face and kicks him repeatedly.
► A teen girl is held on a table by two other women as a third woman puts hot wax on her leg and pulls it off with a piece of cloth; she screams and kicks the three women when they threaten to wax her bikini area, they fight and one holds the teen in a chokehold, she breaks free and runs through the house as sirens blare, a woman’s voice is heard over a loudspeaker, and we see scans of uteruses on a computer screen. A woman holds a teen girl by the throat, twists her hand and they fight: the teen tries to kick the woman and holds her by the foot twisting her around in the air and they continue to fight and argue, and the woman hits the teen in the face (we see her bloody nose and mouth); the woman wraps a sash around the teen’s throat and chokes her, the teen frees herself and we later see her tied into a chair and the woman reprimands her. A teen girl takes a gun from an unconscious security guard and threatens people at a wedding: she shoots the ceiling and people run screaming, she yells. A woman holding a gun is struck in the back with a chair, she is knocked to the floor and drops the weapon.
► People are shown practicing in a martial arts class in a few scenes with kicks, punches and exclamations; a couple of scenes show a teen girl and a teen boy sparring and they are each kicked and thrown to the mat a couple of times. A teen girl lifts another teen girl off the floor by the throat and presses her against a wall. Two teen girls knock out a woman with a chloroform-covered cloth held over her face (she struggles and screams and then falls unconscious); she is put in a room service cart and wheeled out of a room, past an armed security guard. A fight scene with many people includes punching, kicking, throws and several people are struck down by people swinging serving trays. A woman slaps her teen daughter in the head a few times.
► A teen girl pulls her older sister off her bed in a couple of scenes to help film her martial arts progress for her social media channel. A teen girl jumps into the air and spins around but slams to the ground several times trying to perfect a kick. A teen girl swings a sword hitting a heavy bag and yells, “I am the fury.” Several teen girls perform a dance at a wedding ceremony and some of the gestures appear threatening. We hear pounding outside a door as a teen girl breaks the door open using a fire extinguisher.
► A teen girl finds a laboratory with embryos in containment tubes and other medical equipment. A teen girl breaks into a man’s home by scaling the outside wall and entering a window and she is caught by a woman and a man. Teen girls search on a man’s computer trying to find incriminating information. Two teen girls disguise themselves as teen boys and walk through a men’s locker room in a gym (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details) and one steals a man’s laptop from his locker and the other returns it. A teen girl walks through a large house and finds many photos of young women laid out on a desk, including one of her sister. A woman wakes up with a start and remembers being in an examination room.
► A teen girl yells at two other teen girls and tells them to leave; they become upset and leave; they later ignore her when she tries to apologize. A woman tells a teen girl, “Stay out of my life.” A man and a woman argue with their daughters about their professional ambitions and choices of studies. A woman becomes angry while painting on a canvas and stabs the canvas with the handle of her paintbrush tearing it. Two teens tell another teen, “Don’t let her smell your fear,” when she prepares to present something to her teacher. A teen girl yells at her teacher and others, “I am not going to be a doctor.” A woman says that a young woman “looks very pale and not in a good way.” A woman says, “I disappoint my parents,” when asked what she does. A teen girl says, “Men just seem to destroy things.” A teen girl accuses a woman of, “Doing a Jane Austen.” We hear that a woman died in childbirth. A woman says a teen girl has an overactive imagination. People talk about a man philandering. A teen girl says, “Death comes to us all.”
► A woman holds a whole prepared chicken in her hands and takes a bite; she becomes embarrassed when seen by two other women and tries to hide. A teen girl fills several condoms with lotion and plants them on a man’s bed after breaking into his home.
Polite Society LANGUAGE 5
– About 2 F-words and one not fully enunciated, 1 obscene hand gesture, 4 sexual references, 29 scatological terms, 14 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (piddling, insubordinate, smarmy wanker, feeble, hoity-toity, wonky, picky, foolish, pathetic child, silly girl, tragic waste, bastard, biblical, terrifying, arrogant, disgraceful, daft, mediocrity, rude, egotistical, weird, basic, mad, insane person, disgusting, dangerous, bitch, pretty little rich boy, stupid, weak, pretty boy, sham wedding, big shot, ding-dong, lecherous, charming, loathsome, dramatic, maniac, pretentious, pencil pounding, sexy mensch, womanizing skeez, art school dropout, jealous, geek, virgins, brat, cactus leg, whipped mommy’s boy), exclamations (oi, oh come on, shut your faces, wow, enough, mischief is afoot, stop it, drop it, chill out, bloody, uncool, this motha, switcheroo, oops, sorry mate, bloody well, bollocks), 15 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, for Christ’s sake, for God’s sake, God, God’s fair, Allah, Mashallah, Inshallah, the gods, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |
Polite Society SUBSTANCE USE
– Chloroform is used to sedate a couple of people. A man and a woman drink wine with a meal and whiskey at a bar. A woman smokes a cigarette while walking on a sidewalk.
Polite Society DISCUSSION TOPICS
– Giving up on dreams, sibling relationships, cloning, genetic engineering, insider trading, money laundering, fulfilling expectations, predetermined professional paths, class distinctions, bullying, friendship, gender roles, shame, sacrifice, arranged marriages, diplomacy.
Polite Society MESSAGE
– Support from loved ones can get us out of even the most unbelievable situations.
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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