This is not a family movie night pick. It's a heavy, theatrical, R-rated drama that demands your full attention and emotional investment.
That said, for older teens (16+) ready to engage with difficult history and complex characters, it's exceptional. Boseman's final performance is heartbreaking and electric, and Davis commands every scene as the titular blues legend who refuses to be controlled. The film captures a specific moment in American music history—1927 Chicago, when Black artists created culture that white-owned studios profited from—with unflinching honesty.
The 6.9 IMDb and 72% audience score tell you this isn't crowd-pleasing entertainment. It's slow, talky, and emotionally exhausting. But the 97% critic score and 87 Metacritic reflect its artistic achievement. This is the kind of film you watch once, think about for days, and remember forever.
If your teen is into theater, history, or music, and can handle adult content, this is worth watching together. Just know what you're getting into: it's the blues on screen—beautiful, painful, and real.