Theater Camp: parents' guide
Best for ages 13 and up. Rated PG-13 for some strong language and suggestive/drug references.
A warm, very silly mockumentary that musical-theater kids and their parents can enjoy together, best for young teens. The staff of a struggling summer arts camp try to keep it running after its founder falls into a coma. Most of the humor pokes at showbiz egos and kids playing adult roles, which brings jokes about sex workers, virgins and a cocaine-themed musical number. There are a couple of f-words and some s-words, counselors drink alcohol confiscated from campers, and one staffer has an off-screen hookup. Violence is limited to stage combat and a slap. The language and drug jokes point to 13.
What's in it
Violence
MildVery little: stage-combat practice, campers shoving their way to the cast list, a scooter fall in a flashback, and one child slapping another. The camp's founder has a seizure early on and spends most of the film in a medically induced coma.
Language
ModerateAdults say the f-word twice (once in background music) and the s-word a couple of times, and a child sings one s-word. Also 'b--ch,' 'a--,' 'damn,' 'piss' and frequent use of God's name.
Sex and nudity
ModerateA counselor sleeps with a woman from a rival camp, implied off screen. Kids audition for sexualized adult roles, including a 'French prostitute' joke, and staff talk about crushes, who is hot and whether campers are virgins. No nudity.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateCounselors drink alcohol they confiscated from campers, a cook sips cooking wine, and a camper apparently ate an adult's CBD gummies. A stage musical depicts a character's cocaine habit with a giant prop nose, and jokes treat throat tea like a drug deal.
Scary or intense scenes
MildNothing scary. The founder's sudden collapse and hospitalization is the most serious moment, and a monologue about a mother losing her son sends a man into a comic war flashback.
Worth talking about
The camp gives kids who feel like outsiders a place to belong. Where do you feel most like yourself, and why does having that place matter?
On our lists
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Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, the MPA, moviemom.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.