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Movie · Drama, Fantasy · 2024 · R

The Life of Chuck: parents' guide

15+our pick

Best for ages 15 and up. Rated R for language.

A gentle, bittersweet drama for teens and adults, told backward in three chapters about an ordinary accountant's life, from the end of the world back to his childhood. There is little violence and no sex, but the R rating is earned by language: reviewers counted roughly 13 to 16 f-words. Death runs through the story, including a boy's parents and unborn sibling killed in an offscreen car crash, grandparents dying, the main character's fatal brain tumor, and talk of a wave of suicides as the world falls apart. We suggest 15 for the language and heavy grief.

What's in it

Violence

Mild

Little violence: a boy cuts his hand on a fence and bleeds, a man is shoved to the ground, and a sinkhole swallows people and cars. News footage shows disasters and riots. A fatal car crash happens offscreen.

Language

Strong

Strong language for an otherwise gentle film: Plugged In counted about 13 f-words and Movieguide 16, plus several s-words, ass, damn, hell and piss, and a couple of misuses of God's and Jesus' names.

Sex and nudity

Mild

Chuck kisses his wife, and a flirty street dance with a younger woman stays innocent. Adults joke about a porn website no longer working. No sex scenes or nudity.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Moderate

Chuck's grandfather slides into alcoholism after the family's losses, which the film treats as a problem, and his wife sends him walking to sober up. Two characters smoke pipes, wine is served, and bongs are glimpsed in a car.

Scary or intense scenes

Moderate

Apocalyptic news of floods, fires and earthquakes, a sinkhole swallowing people, and references to a surge in suicides. Chuck suffers severe brain-tumor headaches, and a locked attic room in his grandparents' house holds a frightening secret.

Sensitive topics

  • Death of a parent
  • Suicide
  • Addiction

Worth talking about

The film suggests that every ordinary person contains a whole universe. Which small moments in a life might matter most, and why?

Where to stream →

On our lists

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Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, moviemom.com, movieguide.org, Wikipedia, bbfc.co.uk, cineparenting.com. 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.