Parents Guide for
The Departed (2006) More at IMDbPro »

Note: The number at the beginning of each section refers to how explicit that aspect of the film is on a scale of 1-10. The fraction at the end of the Frightening/Intense Scenes category is the total sum of all the sections out of the highest sum possible (50) and therefore an approximation of how much explicit content of any kind is in the film.

Sex & Nudity: 7

A man in a porn theater makes many obscene noises (as if he is masturbating). He then turns around and is holding a black dildo (as a joke). During this scene, you can hear moaning from the porn film that is playing, and a quick glance at the screen very briefly shows scantily clad girls rubbing one another.

When joking, provoking, or angry, characters often ask each other insulting sexual questions. Some are about their mothers or girlfriends.

A couple kiss and undress, and begin to have sex but the scene ends before anything extremely explicit is shown

Violence & Gore: 10

There are many scenes of brutal, bloody violence.

Many characters, both major and minor, are shot to death, sometimes with repeated shots. Often, they are shot in the head in full view of the camera with blood spraying from the exit wound. Sometimes these shootings occur in chain reactions. (For example, A shoots B, C shoots A and D, E shoots C in succession.)

A character is thrown off the roof of a building and falls on the ground below. A LOT of blood splatters on a bystander.

A character's broken arm is beaten with a shoe.

One character beats up two men. He stomps on the face of one of them then hits him repeatedly in the face with the end of a hat stand. The other is thrown the the glass door of a refrigerator.

One character smashes a glass bottle on the head of another.

A character has a bloody severed hand in a plastic bag.

There are photographs of bloody dead bodies.

Some characters are violently beaten with blood sometimes splattering on bystanders and walls. One has his teeth knocked out.

Profanity: 10

Pervasive strong language is used throughout.

Overall, there are 307 uses of the word "fuck" and its derivatives (many used with "mother" and one colorful utterance of an improvised "fuckstick") and similar amounts of "shit", as well as 4 uses of "cunt." There is also a smattering of milder profanities, including anatomical terms (such as "dick" and "cock"). There are racial and homophobic slurs as well.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: 8

Some drug references. Many people are shown drinking and smoking.

Some drug dealing.

A man grabs a handful of cocaine and throws it on some hookers.

A man is seen swallowing many pills from a prescription pill bottle.

A man asks his therapist for Valium.

A large mound of drugs is seen, and in another scene, gangsters load a truck with bags of drugs (seen, not implied).

A man makes a woman kneel in front of a large pile of drugs and says, "Don't come up until you're numb."

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 8

The whole film has the undertone of violence.

Many people are threatened with violence.

A main character is constantly thrown into situations that force him to commit crimes and attack people.

There is an intense chase sequence.

Two of the main characters are constantly in danger of being discovered as moles.

Strong brutal violence and pervasive language.

Explicit content of every kind is strong throughout this film. Do not even consider showing it to viewers younger than 17.

An idea of how accurate the TECE (below) is: 5-10 is a little-kid suitable, G-Rated type of film (i.e. Care Bears, Sleeping Beauty); 10-15 is going to be a little harsher, but not by much (i.e. The Incredibles); 15-20 could be pretty high up there (i.e. Indiana Jones), 20-25 is going to pretty darn adult (i.e. The Dark Knight); 25-30 is going to be a film most likely not suitable for anyone under 17 (i.e. Braveheart); 30-40 is going to be an absolutely, positively adults-only film (i.e. Saving Private Ryan), and over 40 is going to be hard R to NC-17 (i.e. THIS).

Total Explicit Content Estimation: 43/50.