13 Movies You Really Don’t Want to Watch with Your Parents

Many of us have our parents to thank for the way our movie tastes developed. Part of growing up involves being shown movies by your parents, often ones they remember fondly. When you’re too young to read reviews or know how to pull up a Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb score to see what it’s rated, parents are your main authority.

Despite the importance of parents when it comes to movie-watching, not all movies should or even can be watched with parents. As you get older, your parents might be willing to let you watch more mature films with their supervision. Still, there’s always the risk of awkward movie nights, where the movie gets a little too… full-on, or the parent regrettably forgets about “that one scene” from a movie they hadn’t seen in decades. As such, many movies are best watched without a parent or two on the couch next to you.

‘Babylon’ (2022)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Babylon is a massive movie, and can be quite exhausting to watch, even for those who are used to movies that exceed three hours in length. It’s a non-stop smorgasbord of depravity, drugs, violence, $3x, and bad behavior, and there are certainly parts of it that you might not want to watch with the family

Its length and content are probably two of the main reasons why it failed to make back its large budget at the box office, but the film still has its fans. It might be worth a shot for those not put off by the length, but they’re probably best off watching the movie (especially the first half-hour or so) by themselves.

Titane’ (2021)

It’s uncommon for a horror movie to debut at the Cannes Film Festival and then go on to win the Palme d’Or, but that’s what Titane managed to do. It’s a wild and provocative ride of a movie, starting off in a brazenly confrontational way, containing some very strange $3xually charged scenes, and also being graphically violent in parts.

It’s easy to call it the kind of movie that shouldn’t be watched with parents, and it’s possible to go even further and say that even those watching without parents should be strongly cautioned. There is a great deal of shocking material to be found in Titane, and while it’s a powerful and memorable film for sure, it’s also undeniably not going to be for everyone.

Crimes of the Future’ (2022)

Image Via Neon

David Cronenberg is a master of making audiences uncomfortable, and while not all his movies can be described as body horror, many of his most famous ones can. He’s unafraid to disturb, shock, and show content both adult and violent in nature on-screen, and that goes for his 2022 film – which was a return to body horror – Crimes of the Future.

Beyond having some horrific imagery, it also serves as both a crime and science-fiction movie (as made clear by the title), with a complex film noir-type plot that involves synthetic transformation and mutations, and complex surgical procedures done for art purposes. It’s graphic, uncompromising, and very strange stuff, and is guaranteed to give any family movie night the completely wrong vibe

American Pie’ (1999)

Image via Universal Pictures

Arguably the quintessential teen/gross-out comedy, launching sequels, spin-offs, and imitators, American Pie is unapologetically crude, being about four high school students who agree to lose their virginity before Prom Night, no matter what the cost.

Filled with shocking sight gags and plenty of foul language, American Pie might be a fun watch with some friends, but it is not as fun when watched with parents. You don’t want to run the risk of getting into an awkward conversation about whether the film captures your personal high school experience in any way.

‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (2013)

As a director, Martin Scorsese bridges the gap between generations, with many fans young and old. He’s been knocking out diverse and fantastic films from the late 1960s to this very day, showing no signs of slowing, with The Killers of the Flower Moon slated for a 2023 release.

That doesn’t mean, however, that those from different generations can enjoy all his films together. While 2011’s Hugo might make for surprisingly good family viewing, his follow-up, The Wolf of Wall Street, would not. The movie shows the excess, crime, and debauchery of corrupt Wall Street businessman Jordan Belfort in unflinching detail over three hours – it’s not a film you want to experience in the company of the ‘rents.

Basic Instinct’ (1992)

Paul Verhoeven hides absolutely nothing in his Michael Douglas/Sharon Stone-starring mystery/thriller about a detective tracking down and becoming entangled with a seductive femme fatale who might also be a serial killer.

The term “erotic thriller” isn’t one that’s used to describe movies too often nowadays, but the label certainly applies to Basic Instinct. You and your folks might enjoy a good murder mystery now and then, but this isn’t one you’ll want to solve together, given the infamous amount of adult content within it, as well as certain… scenes that go on for a very, very long time. Any family who watches this together will find themselves sweating more than Wayne Knight in the film’s notorious police interrogation scene.

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7‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ (1983)

The original Vacation is surprisingly likely to be mistaken for an edgy but ultimately family-safe comedy. Starring Chevy Chase in one of his most famous roles, and centering around a hilariously disastrous vacation, the film does indeed star a family – including two young children – and has a perhaps more well-known and slightly less adult-themed sequel in 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

The original, however, makes for far less appropriate family viewing. There’s more foul language and nudity here than parents might remember, and Chase’s character’s perverted qualities are dialed up to 11, compared to its Christmas-themed sequel. Even though that one isn’t perfect for kids of all ages, it’s probably a safer and less awkward choice for families than the original Vacation.

‘American Psycho’ (2000)

The Dark Knight this ain’t. Despite playing another wealthy, powerful, physically fit, and often violent individual, Christian Bale’s role here as murderous Wall Street serial killer, Patrick Bateman, will make for awkward family viewing for fans of Batman.

It’s a great film to watch by yourself, of course. It pulls few punches in adapting its even grislier source material, satirizing those with excessive wealth and power through some very dark comedy to be seen in cinema. Yet, to watch almost any part of the film with your parents (except for maybe the iconic business card scene) would make for a deathly uncomfortable experience.

5‘Mid90s’ (2018)

Jonah Hill is no stranger to swearing, so it’s not surprising that his bittersweet and well-made directorial debut contains so much of it. Mid90s tells a very honest story about a 13-year-old coming of age in – you guessed it – the mid-90s.

Importantly, it shows how kids of that age often talk around one another when there are no grown-ups around. With swearing being a new and exciting concept, many kids in their early teens don’t hold back in that department, and neither does this film. Not to be watched with parents, unless a viewer’s prepared to be asked the awkward and inevitable question about whether they talked like that when they were 13.

‘Ghostbusters’ (1984)

Ghostbusters… a family classic, right? It’s certainly popular with people of all ages and has had kid-focused spin-offs and toys and various other tie-ins, in the same vein as Star Wars. It’s a story about four down-on-their-luck guys who have the wacky idea to set up a ghost-busting business in New York. What could go wrong?

That weird scene where Dan Aykroyd gets his pants taken off by a ghost before something else seems to happen; that’s what can go wrong. Parents may take some comfort in particularly young kids not understanding what’s actually going on, but they’re fresh out of luck if they actually get asked to explain what’s happening.

Arguably Martin Scorsese’s first truly great film, Taxi Driver boasts a great performance from the always fantastic Robert De Niro. It depicts, in an unflinching and often quite unnerving way, the deterioration of a Vietnam War veteran’s mind, as he loses his grip on reality and becomes more and more hateful of the world around him.

Taxi Driver is a despairing and psychologically confronting film. It’s probably best appreciated by a viewer on their own, as sharing the experience of watching it even with people other than someone’s own parents could be uncomfortable. Its themes of loneliness and isolation hit harder on your own, plus a good deal of the confrontational content would make watching this with parents too squirm-inducing.

2‘Borat’ (2006)

Image via 20th Century Fox

Sacha Baron Cohen‘s most famous character made his big-screen debut in this infamous, crude, funny, and smart satirical film from 2006. Cohen plays a journalist from Kazakhstan who visits the United States and uses the character to reveal the prejudices of many through a series of outlandish, uncomfortable, hilarious, and sometimes very gross sequences.

The mix of lowbrow comedy with scathing satire and social commentary means that while Borat is surprisingly clever, it’s also extremely crude. Parts of it can be hard enough to watch on your own, let alone with your parents laughing nervously in the same space as you.

‘Annette’ (2021)

The offbeat vision of the quirky musician/brother duo Sparks and eccentric French director Leos Carax, and with a compelling yet tense lead performance from the already legendary Adam Driver, Annette can be a difficult watch in the best circumstances. Here, the best circumstances certainly don’t involve parents.

The film is long and goes to some very dark places. Oh, and it’s also a musical, which makes everything feel even more menacing and uncomfortably surreal. There are long stretches of (intentionally) bad standup comedy, fairly intense (ahem) love scenes, a creepy puppet, and an almost 2.5-hour-long runtime. Content aside, it might just be too strange for your parents to digest. Indeed, the only thing more nightmarish than watching Annette with a parent might be the lack of knowing what to even talk about once the credits roll.

 

‘Annette’ (2021)

The offbeat vision of the quirky musician/brother duo Sparks and eccentric French director Leos Carax, and with a compelling yet tense lead performance from the already legendary Adam Driver, Annette can be a difficult watch in the best circumstances. Here, the best circumstances certainly don’t involve parents.

The film is long and goes to some very dark places. Oh, and it’s also a musical, which makes everything feel even more menacing and uncomfortably surreal. There are long stretches of (intentionally) bad standup comedy, fairly intense (ahem) love scenes, a creepy puppet, and an almost 2.5-hour-long runtime. Content aside, it might just be too strange for your parents to digest. Indeed, the only thing more nightmarish than watching Annette with a parent might be the lack of knowing what to even talk about once the credits roll.

‘Annette’ (2021)

The offbeat vision of the quirky musician/brother duo Sparks and eccentric French director Leos Carax, and with a compelling yet tense lead performance from the already legendary Adam Driver, Annette can be a difficult watch in the best circumstances. Here, the best circumstances certainly don’t involve parents.

The film is long and goes to some very dark places. Oh, and it’s also a musical, which makes everything feel even more menacing and uncomfortably surreal. There are long stretches of (intentionally) bad standup comedy, fairly intense (ahem) love scenes, a creepy puppet, and an almost 2.5-hour-long runtime. Content aside, it might just be too strange for your parents to digest. Indeed, the only thing more nightmarish than watching Annette with a parent might be the lack of knowing what to even talk about once the credits roll.