On the Line | 2022 | R | – 2.6.10

Why is “On the Line” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language throughout and some violent content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several references to sex and infidelity, many scenes of threats of violence including against a child and a dog, several dead bodies being found with bloody wounds, a police officer being shot, a man being threatened with an explosive device, many arguments, and over 60 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A shock radio host (Mel Gibson) receives a call from someone threatening the lives of his wife, young child, and pets. Through hours of confusing mental torture, he and his crew try to figure out what’s going on before confronting tragedy. Also with William Moseley, Alia Seror, O’Neill, Paul Spera, Kevin Dillon, Enrique Arce and Yoli Fuller. Directed by Romuald Boulanger. [Running Time: 1:44]

On the Line SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A man removes his shirt in an office lobby and we see his bare chest, abdomen and shoulders for several seconds until he leaves. A woman wears no bra under her blouse and the outline of her nipples is evident as she walks.
► A woman says that her husband left her because she was sleeping with another man. A married man says that he has been having an affair with a woman (we hear later that this is untrue). A man implies if a woman keeps having sex with different men, and she will get pregnant (“get round”).

On the Line VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A man walks slowly into a hallway, backs up as people follow, and he falls backward down a long concrete staircase, striking his head on the landing; a woman runs down to the landing, finds blood on the man’s neck, cries and screams, “He’s dead.” Two men find a dead body in a pool of blood at the end of a wide path of blood, they find a man hanging dead in a dark room, and they find a dead man in an office chair with a bloody bullet hole in his forehead.
► A man calls into a radio show and keeps the host on the line for over an hour, claiming that the host belittled the first man’s girlfriend until she committed suicide and now he wants revenge; he tells the host he is at his house, holding his wife and young daughter hostage, and we hear the wife and child screaming and crying several times, along with glass breaking, and many gun shots spread across the length of the call; the caller says he poisoned the host’s dog and then butchered it and he will do the same to the family, he threatens to shoot the family dead several times while laughing maniacally and insisting the host play games with him, and he threatens to come and kill the host.
► A man is forced by a second man on a phone to go to his workplace rooftop and stand on the ledge; he looks down and is told to jump off, but he jumps back onto the roof as a drone flies near him and a voice on the phone yells threats, telling another man on the roof to push the first man off to die, but the third man refuses and we hear gunshots over the phone as the first man thinks his family has been killed.
► A radio host with a bat breaks into a radio studio room to find a man holding another man and a woman hostage; we hear voices of men shouting and thuds as if they are being beaten, we see on a screen that dozens of bombs are planted around the building and the man holds a detonator, threatening the others. We hear that police found a woman and child wearing explosive-device vests; the vests are decoded and brought to a radio station, where they are placed on an employee who looks horrified. A man picks up a gun, points it at another man, shakes, and finally puts the gun down. After several minutes of arguing and threats all around, a police officer is shot and falls below the frame, a detonator is dropped to the floor, and the man wearing the explosive vest cringes (nothing happens). Three men fight before realizing they are coworkers and one man had broken glass over the head of another man (no injuries are seen).
► A man says that he just left a treatment center and that he is Jesus; he holds a knife to his own throat in a suicide threat in the lobby of a radio station until another man convinces him to return to the center. A police officer outside an office building points a gun at two men inside the lobby and we see a bomb on the door as the officer reaches for the handle; we hear a voice over the police radio telling him to back away from the building. A man picks up a baseball bat and takes another man with him to search an office building.
► We hear sobbing off-screen and the camera approaches a bloody-looking spot on a floor, pans up and shows a man holding a young girl as he asks her to confess to spilling juice.
► A shock jock is rude to anyone who is not a white American, making rude remarks to an Indian man, a British man, and a Hispanic man; also, he never remembers the names of female colleagues. A man shouts at a new employee and fires him, only to laugh loudly and call him back, saying it was just a joke. A radio executive berates a man for causing the death of another man and fires him. A man argues in several scenes with a different man each time. A woman argues with a man in two scenes. A man shouts at a man for stealing laptops and selling them on the black market to pay for his wife’s medical bills.

On the Line LANGUAGE 10

 – About 63 F-words and its derivatives, 2 obscene hand gestures (on a doll holding a small bloody toy), 5 sexual references, 32 scatological terms, 12 anatomical terms, 23 mild obscenities , name-calling (crazy, idiots, ugly, airhead, suck-up, yuppy, psychopathic killer, narcissist, night-crawling rejects, nocturnal emitters, washed-up diaper wearing has-beens, cuckoo, scumbag, jerk, freaks, insomniac freaks, madmen, bloodsuckers, dirty deceivers, piglets, liars, dirty liars, Mr. Big Wig, Miss America, TikTok jerk, Bouncy Knowles, Turncoat Tom, Keystone Cops, Squeal-like-a-pig Arkansas, “greatest radio host”), exclamations (shut-up, shut your mouth, shut your trap, Ay Yai Yai, whoo-hoo, whoa, wow), 10 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, God, thank God, I swear to God, Jesus). | profanity glossary |

On the Line SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man asks a man on the phone if he is drinking or on drugs and the answer is no. A man pours an energy drink into a mug and drinks it. A man mentions he smoked a cigarette.

On the Line DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Radio call-in shows, shock radio, workplace harassment, jokes that are not really jokes, danger, anger, bigotry, fear, helplessness, revenge, tragedy, bloodshed, shootings, death, mental illness, pranks.

On the Line MESSAGE

 – Abusers often say their actions are “just a joke.”