Joy Ride

What’s it about?

When Audrey gets the opportunity to go to China on a business trip, her brash friend Lola decides they should search for Audrey’s birth mother while they’re there. With their friends Cat and Dead Eye in tow, things quickly get out of hand when they lose their passports.

The facts

• Director: Adele Lim
• Adele Lim wrote the screenplay for Crazy Rich Asians, and Raya and the Last Dragon
• Runtime 94 minutes
• Featuring Oscar winner Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Why did it get this rating?

Sex

The film contains sex scenes and crude sexual references. The references range from discussion about sex acts and sexual desire to art that features penises and vaginas. A running joke refers to Cat’s vagina tattoo, which we see in close-up.

The sex scenes are outrageous and funny. In one scene we see two men performing oral sex on a woman at the same time, and in another we see a woman masturbating with a vibrator (which is supposedly a back massage tool). While there is no nudity during the sex, the movement is obvious.

Drug use

The friends do many lines of cocaine to ‘get rid’ of drugs evidence before the Police arrive. One friend puts multiple bags of cocaine up her anus and one of the bags breaks. We don’t see any negative consequences to the drug taking beyond being kicked off a train. In fact, they have fun and express a desire for more.

Offensive language

Words such as ‘f**k’, ‘shit’, and ‘bitch’, are used frequently in the film for comic effect.

Suicide

We see a historical fantasy television show being filmed. In it, a man melodramatically cuts his own throat with a sword – the blood effects are obviously fake.

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?