Is there any graphic violence or a police shooting shown on screen?

No. The entire movie takes place inside a police station waiting room. You never see Jamal or what happens to him on the street—everything is relayed verbally to the parents by the officers. The intensity comes entirely from the emotional panic of the parents and the tragic news at the end.

Why did it get such bad reviews from critics?

Critics didn't object to the subject matter; they objected to the script. Because it was adapted directly from a Broadway play, the plot relies on contrived reasons to keep four people arguing in a room for 90 minutes, and the dialogue often sounds like characters reciting talking points rather than having a real conversation.

Why is it rated TV-MA if there's no violence or nudity?

Language and thematic intensity. There are frequent f-bombs throughout the parents' arguments with the police and each other, plus the sustained emotional distress of a mother and father finding out what happened to their son.

What's a better movie on the same topic to watch with a teen?

The Hate U Give (PG-13) covers very similar ground—police shootings, racial profiling, code-switching, and family tension—with much stronger writing, better pacing, and characters that feel like real teenagers and parents.

American Son – WISE Score & Parent Review

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

Where to Watch

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Screenwise Verdict

American Son wants to be a gripping chamber drama about race, policing, and marriage in America, and instead plays like a live reading of a rough Twitter thread. Adapted directly from Christopher Demos-Brown's Broadway play with the original cast intact, the movie traps Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale in arainy Florida police station at 4 a.m. while they try to find out what happened to their missing 18-year-old son, Jamal.

The topic matters, and Washington gives the role everything she has, vibrating with panic and fury. The problem is the script. Nobody talks like a human being. Every character is a walking talking point: the fiercely protective Black mother with a PhD, the defensive white FBI-agent father, the clueless young white cop, and the hardened older Black lieutenant. With a 34 on Metacritic and 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics mostly clocked it for what it is: a well-meaning stage play that feels clumsy and repetitive on camera.

If you're looking for a movie to watch with a high schooler about racial profiling and code-switching, The Hate U Give does the job with three-dimensional characters and an actual plot.

Age Fit

Best for older teens (14+) and adults. There's nothing visually graphic on screen, so a mature middle schooler can handle the content, though the 90-minute single-room stage play format will bore most younger viewers to tears.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

55

The film tackles heavy, emotionally grueling themes of racial profiling, parental terror, and marital strain. While the parents fiercely love their son, the entire runtime is spent in high-conflict arguments inside a police station.

Imaginative

45

Adapted directly from a Broadway play, it stays locked in a single room with four characters trading monologues. It relies heavily on theatrical archetypes rather than cinematic invention.

Safe

60

There is no gore, sex, or on-screen violence, as everything takes place in a waiting room. However, the intense emotional distress, strong profanity, racial tension, and tragic outcome make it unsuitable for young kids.

Enriching

68

It lays out multiple perspectives on race, policing, and raising a biracial teenager in America, though the writing often feels like a staged debate rather than how human beings talk.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Kerry Washington goes for broke. She carries the entire movie on her back, playing a mother in every parent's worst nightmare with raw, exhausting intensity.
A rare lens on interracial parenting. The arguments between Kendra (who is Black) and her estranged husband Scott (who is white, and an FBI agent) dig into how differently two parents can view their biracial son's safety.
Zero graphic violence. Unlike almost every other movie dealing with police shootings and racial profiling, everything happens in a waiting room through dialogue and information trickling in.

⚠

What to Watch For

Characters speak in op-eds. Because it was brought straight over from the Broadway stage with minimal changes, the four characters mostly stand in corners delivering loud, thesis-statement monologues at each other.
Unrelenting parental dread. The entire plot is a mother and father waiting to find out if their missing 18-year-old son is dead or in handcuffs. It is a rough watch for parents, and the ending is bleak.
Heavy language. Expect frequent f-bombs and heated arguments about race and policing throughout the 90-minute runtime.

Conversation Starters

"Kendra and Scott had completely different philosophies on how to prepare Jamal for the world. Where did each of them have a point, and where did they miss the mark?"
"Did the two police officers in the movie feel like real people to you, or more like symbols in an argument?"
"Why do you think the filmmakers chose to keep the camera inside the waiting room the whole time instead of showing what happened to Jamal?"

Deep Dive

Why a stage play doesn't always make a movie

On Broadway, sitting fifty feet from Kerry Washington while she falls apart in real time probably worked. On Netflix, with the camera inches from everyone's faces, every theatrical contrivance sticks out.

The setup hinges on bureaucratic stalling: a young rookie officer (Jeremy Jordan) refuses to tell Kendra why her son's car was pulled over, keeping her in the dark for over an hour so she and her estranged husband can rehash twenty years of marital resentment and racial friction in the lobby. It's a classic stage device, and on screen it makes you want to yell at the FBI-agent dad to just call someone at the precinct desk.

Better alternatives for teens

If the goal is watching something with your teen that sparks a real conversation about race, policing, and identity, you have much stronger options:

The Hate U Give (2018): Deals directly with a police shooting, code-switching between a mostly white prep school and a Black neighborhood, and complicated family dynamics, with great performances and real emotional weight.
When They See Us (2019): Ava DuVernay's Netflix miniseries about the Central Park Five is a brutal, unforgettable watch for older teens ready for the real history.
Blindspotting (2018): A sharp, funny, and tense drama for older high schoolers about two friends in Oakland dealing with gentrification, identity, and the aftermath of witnessing a police shooting.

What Parents Ask

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