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BARELY LETHAL

What You Need To Know:

BARELY LETHAL is a comic thriller. It stars Hailee Steinfeld as Megan Walsh, an orphaned teenage agent who yearns for a normal adolescence. Megan has been trained as a spy, a commando and an assassin after being orphaned at a young age. After faking her death, Megan assumes the role of an exchange student from Canada living with a single mother, her teenage daughter and a younger boy. Megan learns that surviving the typical American high school can be more difficult than international espionage. Things become dangerous when Megan’s evil nemesis tracks her down and a bunch of bad guys and gals come calling.

BARELY LETHAL is a hit and miss affair. Some of the jokes land, but others don’t. Some of the action is fun and exciting, but some of it is silly or lacks creativity. The same thing is true of the movie’s ethics. Megan longs for a normal, wholesome family life. Also, she sometimes establishes a touching rapport with the family she encounters. However, the movie’s situations include teenage drinking, crude innuendoes, foul language, and action violence that’s too edgy.

Content:

(Pa, B, Ro, LLL, VV, S, AA, DD, MM) Light mixed pagan worldview with a mixture of pagan, moral and Romantic elements; about 18 obscenities (including one “f” word), one GD and nine light exclamatory profanities; strong action violence includes young girls are taught to use arms and grenades in training to be commandoes and assassins, fighting, gun battles, threats of torture; some sexual innuendo and crude comments, including involving teenagers; no nudity; alcohol use, including underage teenager drinking; brief drug references; and, lying, some teenage rebellion and undercover government agency teaches orphaned girls to become ruthless commandoes and assassins and puts them into the field before they are adults.

More Detail:

BARELY LETHAL is a comic thriller about an orphaned girl raised to be a spy and an assassin who wants to live a more normal teenage life but finds it harder to do than she thought. BARELY LETHAL has some funny, even wholesome moments, but, just when you think the movie is going to be an argument in favor of family values, the filmmakers throw in something edgy to detract from the movie’s acceptability.

The movie stars Hailee Steinfeld as Megan Walsh, an orphaned teenage special ops agent who yearns for a normal adolescence. Megan has been trained as a spy, a commando and an assassin since she was orphaned at a young age.

After faking her own death, Megan assumes the role of an exchange student from Canada living with a single mother, her teenage daughter and a younger boy. Megan quickly learns that surviving the treacherous waters of a typical American high school can be even more difficult than international espionage. Things become dangerous when Megan’s evil nemesis tracks her down and a bunch of bad guys and gals come calling. Will her former boss help Megan and her exchange student family, even though she deserted her job?

BARELY LETHAL also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Alba, Sophie Turner, Dove Cameron, and Thomas Mann. It’s a hit and miss affair. Some of the jokes land, but others don’t. Some of the action is fun and exciting, but some of it is silly or lacks creativity.

The same thing is true of the movie’s ethical content. Megan longs for a normal, wholesome family life. Also, she sometimes establishes a touching rapport with the family she encounters. However, the other situations in the movie include teenage drinking, crude innuendoes, foul language, and action violence that is sometimes too edgy. For example, there is a nice scene where there’s a student assembly, and Megan is introduced to her fellow students, but her introduction is interrupted by a crude sexual comment from one of the guys in the audience. Such crude comments are probably part of real high school life, but it’s content like this that prevents BARELY LETHAL from being an appropriate movie for moviegoers.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.