Teens and Funny Movies Rated R

By the time a kid is 16 he should be able to make his own decisions about what movies to watch, especially if his "head is on straight". He is old enough to drive a car and hold a job, and very soon old enough to vote.

I think it depends more on the film than the rating. I gladly let my 15 y.o. daughter watch Shakespeare in Love. I would not let her watch Deadpool.

I didn't think twice about allowing my kids to watch R rated movies at 16. You sound kind of overprotective. They usually see/hear worse at school and on their phones. At 16, they can handle nudity and a little sex.

My kids have graduated college with honors, so apparently I didn't warp them.

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I didn't think twice about allowing my kids to watch R rated movies at 16. You sound kind of overprotective. They usually see/hear worse at school and on their phones. At 16, they can handle nudity and a little sex.

My kids have graduated college with honors, so apparently I didn't warp them.

I remember reading my dad's Robert Ludlum books when I was 12. There were lots of sex scenes. I wasn't suppose to read it but I did and I turned out okay.

Is your son a mature 16 yo? Does he have a smart phone? Personally, I would let him watch rated R movies but I would also tell him you don't approve of the language, sex scenes etc. I think movies (and books) are a great way to start conversations about your family's values,beliefs etc.

We are extremely liberal with movies for our 12 and 18 year old boys. Our 18 year old watches whatever he wants at this point, but we have always been liberal about films. We do censor a bit with our 12 year old, but more for extreme violence than sex, and language doesn't bother me. He knows the power of language and what to say when.

Watching a variety of films no matter the ratings has given us so much to discuss with our boys. It has opened the door to discussions of suicide, drugs, violence, depression, politics, all kinds of issues that need to be discussed in age appropriate ways. We are careful about not showing our youngest anything that will disturb him too much. He's our sensitive soul, but both boys are very mature. I'm thankful for the discussions that have resulted from the films we've watched together and continue to watch. Most recently all four of us watched The Big Short about the housing market crash. I wasn't sure our youngest would follow it, but he loved it, and we talked for a week about that movie. It was great!

Each family has to do what is best for them, though.

There are a lot of reasons why a movie is rated R, including language, nudity and violence. When my son was younger, I loved having a video store in town where I could ask the manager WHY something was rated R! (Yes, I know I'm dating myself...) We let him watch stuff with bad language first (he was obviously hearing it on the school bus anyway), nudity second, and violence last.

Some classics you could start with are "Vacation" (Chevy Chase) or "Blazing Saddles." Watch them as a family and yuk it up together. You could even "graduate" to "Animal House" - again, celebrating how stupid it is to get that drunk and whatnot. The "Bridesmaids" movies are pretty heavy on vomiting and female anatomy comments so be prepared for that. The James Bond movies (e.g. Daniel Craig) have violence but it's mixed in with special effects and gadgets, and there's more "in bed" stuff and innuendo than pure nudity, and a lot of action which teens will enjoy. But there's always an undercurrent of humor in them even though they are billed as dramas. And it's okay to talk about how the women are naked and the men aren't, and what does that say about the audience and the way Hollywood markets sex (good base for discussion).

Try Googling "funny R rated movies" to see what you come up with.

I don't know what to tell you.
It's going to vary so much from family to family, kid to kid.
Logan's Run - great movie - but has a brief nude scene.
We didn't worry about our son watching it when he was young.
We tend to watch things together as a family - and we discuss what we find appropriate (or not) and why.

I think maybe the best approach for right now is to watch it first before you decide if he can see it or not.
In a few years he'll be 18 and in college - he'll have all the freedom he can stand by then.
He might be chomping at the bit right now but he's still got some growing up to do.

My parents wouldn't let me watch an R movie until I was 18. One of my few true rebellious acts was to watch R movies at a friend's house, but for the most part I didn't see any until I was out of the house. It really didn't hurt me that bad to have to wait.

You probably need to ask yourself, did you make him wait until he was 13 to watch PG-13? My parents did, but we have not. So I probably would let me 16 year old watch R movies.

No easy answer.

We have always taken our kids to see Madea movies (Tyler Perry), most things Kevin Hart, my daughter loves Tina Fey (as an actress), and Channing Tatum (excluding Magic Mike).

In our house, my husband DJ's, so our kids hear EVERYTHING. 90% of what he plays is edited, but the satellite radio in the car isn't always. Our take is that we want the kids to see and hear things with us and be comfortable to talk about them. They know right and wrong, and they know movies, songs, whatever are just that.

The one movie we watched before allowing the kids to was American Sniper. We wanted to know exactly what it was and be able to help the kids process it. My brother deals with awful PTSD from his two tours in Iraq so we are more sensitive to that. Otherwise, they watch what they want...but they always ask.

My youngest just turned 9 and my oldest is 12....

Not really answering your question, but I unusually look up movies on the IMDb website.

If you put in a movie title and scroll down to Parents Guide it breaks down every scene from nudity, violence, profanity and frightening scenes.

It is pretty accurate and more conservative then me. I find it saves time from having to watch the movie.

I agree with the others that he probably has been exposed to some of these things already.

If he is still willing to watch these with you I would take full advantage of it....nothing makes these things less 'fantasy' then watching with your parents, right?

Well, in a year or less (depending on when his birthday is), he will legally be able to buy his own R rated ticket without needing your permission. Lying to you would not be ok, but if he's out with his friends, and they want to see the movie, he could do it without you never knowing. Just something to think about.

We mostly had a no Rated R movie policy until all of our kids were 18 (except our youngest 2 special needs - they don't need exposure to that, they are like 5 and 8 yr olds). There were a few exceptions, but I did try to stick to it. I know that they probably watched a few anyways, but it was just one of those things that I personally believed in. In our area, kids still get carded for rated R movies.

It doesn't matter what other mom's (including me), think. Really, it is about what YOU think is best for your kiddo - you know him better than anyone, and you know your belief system.

Good luck!

It depends on the movie and when it was made. Older movies are less "offensive." Newer movies more so. As someone else said the sheer amount of violence in movies these days is so horrifying, I think that would be my concern. Laughing at people who are hurt CHEERING when people get hurt, long drawn out battle scenes .... disturbing. One movie my husband rented had a battle scene that lasted 20+ minutes. I got up and left the room after 5 minutes. Did nothing for the plot, just people killing each other for 20 minutes (was one of those hobbit movies).

Take it movie by movie. Not "Can I watch an R movie?" But, "can I watch "XYZ?"

I rented a movie once not knowing it was R rated and my dd was watching (13). I was appalled at the language and subject matter, but my kid was thrilled that she was watching a "grown up" movie. I stopped watching and took the movie out of the DVD player and told her that not all grown up movies are like that.
I'm sure by the time she's 16 they will have heard it all...but right now, not in my house!

I can't believe that you would worry so much about censoring what a 16 year old watches...

Our 9 year old has seen his fair share of R movies. At his mom's or at friends houses.

I believe that R rated movies are for your son's age and up, or very soon. You do know he's probably seeing them at friends houses or online, right?

I'd think it was fine for him to see these movies. BUT if you don't watch them in your household then I'd think if he wants to watch it he'll need to do that on his own TV or in another room far away from where you're sitting.

I don't watch horror movies or movies with graphic violent content. I saw "A Few Good Men" in the theater. The ticket sales person was letting anyone in without checking ID's or anything, to see it. I knew the kids in front of me from church and I didn't think their parents would want them going to an R rated movie so I told the ticket guy that he'd just sold R tickets to boys that were only 13 or 14. He said he'd seen it several times by that point and that it had one scene in it where they were hazing the man and then the rest was language. Language most kids hear 24 hours a day at home or even out in public.

So I shut up. My sister edited VCR tapes and cut out anything she didn't think was appropriate. Her daughter was completely shocked when she saw the scene in Dirty Dancing where they were in the bed in his cabin. She'd never seen it before and she'd watched that movie a hundred times. It was just an edited movie. Other things were missing too.

Raising a young adult that is too protected is dangerous. Raising a young adult who is too worldly is dangerous.

I think you have to decide what's your limit and have him stay below that. Let him have some leeway but do draw the line where you can't allow it. Then let him make the choices as to what he's going to watch in his room or wherever.

My kid was watching those in elementary school.