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To Leslie | 2022 | R | – 2.4.9
Why is “To Leslie” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language throughout and some drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an attempted seduction, a punch and some shoving, several arguments, a woman being ejected from the places she is living several times, people struggling with addiction to alcohol and drugs, strained relationships due to addiction, and 40 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.
In West Texas, an alcoholic single mother (Andrea Riseborough) wins $190,000 in the lottery, squanders it all on drugs and alcohol, and must decide what to do with her son (Owen Teague) and the rest of her life. Also with Allison Janney, Stephen Root, Marc Maron, Andre Royo, James Landry Hebert and Matt Lauria. Directed by Michael Morris. [Running Time: 1:59]
To Leslie SEX/NUDITY 2
– A man buys a homeless woman some food and then makes sexual advances toward her, trying to hug and kiss her in a car; she runs away. A woman in a dark bar stares and smiles at a few men who turn away. A woman staggers toward a man in a bar and pulls him onto the dance floor to dance, hugs him and he tells her goodnight and leaves. A woman hugs a male friend and kisses him for several seconds.
► A woman wears a low-cut dress (we see her bare back and cleavage). In a long shot at night, a man in a yard strips from a long bathrobe to white briefs and runs away.
To Leslie VIOLENCE/GORE 4
– A man punches another man in the face hard for blocking his way and sneering. Three men shout at and push each other until another man intervenes.
► A woman at a motel yells at people outside, complaining that other people are late with their rent and never face consequences, and then storms off. A woman at her adult son’s apartment is ejected because she used drugs and alcohol and says, “I’m stoned” (please see the Substance Use category for more details). A woman is locked out of a house where she is not to drink or do drugs when she goes to a bar to drink and returns to find her suitcase outside. A woman is ejected from a few places she was living, finding her suitcase sitting outside the house or motel each time.
► A woman spends a night in an abandoned ice cream shop, sleeping on a dirty floor. A woman sleeps in a store doorway on the sidewalk in the rain and thunder. A woman staggers along a road and sleeps against a wall of a motel until the owner comes out in the morning, bangs loudly on a large pot, and tells her to leave; she runs away. A woman sits in a field rocking and crying. A woman staggers into a house where she lived as a child and the homeowner questions her and calls someone to pick her up.
► We hear that an alcoholic woman squanders lottery winnings on liquor and drugs, leaves her young son with friends, and becomes homeless. A woman and a man loudly berate a woman and a younger man mocks her in public for her past behavior. Egged on by adults, a young boy walks up to a woman and says, “I hear you put your money up your nose.” A man and a woman shout at another woman in their home, criticizing her past behavior. A man and a woman argue with each other and the woman screams for several seconds. A woman’s 19-year-old son shouts at her for not having a plan for her life, drinking, and doing drugs (please see the Substance Use category for more details); a police cruiser pulls up and we hear that police will escort her to a bus station. A woman at a fair shouts at another woman for several seconds, implying she is worthless, especially for abandoning her child. Two women in a diner argue and shout for several seconds, and one woman finally apologizes to the other and leaves; the remaining woman cries briefly. Two men and two women argue for several seconds.
► A woman gags and retches over a toilet (we do not see goo). As a woman cleans a sink in a bathroom in a motel, she bends over and we hear vomiting (we do not see goo). A woman gags in public; she does not become ill. In two scenes, a woman runs into a bathroom, slams the door, and we hear vomiting (we do not see goo). A woman sits against the door of her room, sleeping with her head balanced over a large trashcan. A few scenes show a woman shuddering from alcohol withdrawal and running outside to get some air; she looks underweight and pale, with sunken eyes. A man sits in a chair with a clear line running from his nose to a large oxygen tank.
To Leslie LANGUAGE 9
– About 40 F-words and its derivatives, 2 obscene hand gestures, 21 scatological terms, 7 anatomical terms, 12 mild obscenities, name-calling (crazy, stupid, space cadet, boy, evil, Baptist [sarcastic]), exclamations (shut-up, jeez, whoa, whooo), 10 religious profanities (GD), 32 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, oh God, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, thank the Lord, Lord forbid, we still pray for you, “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama”). | profanity glossary |
To Leslie SUBSTANCE USE
– A woman smokes a drugged cigarette, we hear that a man took a lot of LSD as a youth and we hear him off-screen several times, as he loudly howls, and a woman thanks a man for some pills and he talks about them settling her stomach (it is not clear what the pills are). Several scenes show a man drinking from a bottle of beer, a man with a pint glass of beer, two men sipping what looks like whiskey, a woman drinking from a pint glass of beer and a clear-liquor shot, a woman ordering a pint of beer and a dark-liquor shot, a man finding an empty beer can on a kitchen counter, smashing it and tossing it at the feet of a woman, a man telling a woman not to smoke pot (marijuana) or drink alcohol in his house, a man searching a woman’s room and finding empty liquor bottles underneath her mattress and angrily throwing them onto the floor and shouting, a woman stealing money from a dresser drawer and running to a package store where she drinks from a bottle of amber alcohol in the store and later while sitting on the sidewalk, a woman drinking from a small bottle of vodka, a woman taking a flask from a sleeping man’s jacket and putting it back, and we hear that a man divorced his wife because of her uncontrolled drinking. A woman smokes or lights and smokes a cigarette in dozens of scenes (most are outside in a yard or on sidewalks, but occasionally in a room), a woman smokes about three cigarettes indoors and blows smoke into the face of another woman as an insult once, and a couple of men smoke a cigarette each in an apartment.
To Leslie DISCUSSION TOPICS
– West Texas culture, addictions, consequences of drug and alcohol abuse, people who want to punish and degrade those suffering from addiction, blaming others, getting sober, parenting responsibilities, holding a job, starting a business, conflict, forgiveness, reconciliation.
To Leslie MESSAGE
– Addictions can be overcome and damaged relationships can be healed.
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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