Spy: parents' guide
Best for ages 17 and up. Rated R for language throughout, violence, and some sexual content including brief graphic nudity.
An action spoof for older teens and adults that pairs Melissa McCarthy's sharp comic lead performance with surprisingly gory violence and very coarse humor. A desk-bound CIA analyst goes undercover in Europe to track down a stolen nuclear bomb. The fights are played for laughs but include point-blank head shots, a man impaled on rebar and a throat dissolving from poison. Swearing is relentless, with dozens of f-words, and the sexual humor includes on-screen photos of a man's genitals and a colleague who keeps groping the heroine. The graphic violence and nudity are why we suggest 17.
What's in it
Violence
StrongHigh body count: people are shot (some point-blank in the head), stabbed, broken in falls and blown up, with visible blood. One man is impaled on rebar. Sexual harassment: an agent repeatedly gropes the heroine and tries to force kisses as a running gag.
Language
StrongBetween about 75 and 100 f-words depending on the count, about 30 s-words, a c-word, slurs, a stream of inventive crude insults, and about 40 uses of God's name as an exclamation.
Sex and nudity
StrongPhotos of a man's penis are shown on a phone (one reviewer counted three images). Two men are glimpsed from a distance having oral sex in the street, a comic tangle ends in a sexual position with a climax implied, and jokes about erections, porn and a drunken hookup recur.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateChampagne, wine and whiskey at parties and dinners, a hangover after a night of drinking, and some smoking presented as glamorous. Agents are knocked out with drugs, and date-rape drugs are mentioned.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateFrequent fights and shootouts, a hunt for a missing nuclear bomb, and a near plane crash. The tone stays comic, but some deaths are sudden and bloody enough to jolt younger viewers.
Sensitive topics
- Sexual assault
Worth talking about
Susan is constantly underestimated because of how she looks. How does the film flip that, and where do its own jokes still lean on stereotypes?
On our lists
Similar picks around 17+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, the MPA, moviemom.com, movieguide.org. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.