What age is Good Morning, Vietnam appropriate for?

Rated R in the US. 17, alone or with a parent; 12 in France. The whole movie, watched in full: what's in it, and how to talk about it with your child.

Why is Good Morning, Vietnam not recommended under 17?

What's in it: the official rating, first; crude humour, on air; the war that enters the film; beer, cigarettes and goodbyes. The detail, fact by fact, is in the zinema guide, which reads the work itself (images, sound, dialogue).

zinema · movies · what age

Good Morning, Vietnam: what age is it for? 17, alone or with a parent

From 17, alone or with a parent.

Movie · 1987 · 2 h 01 · comedy, drama, war

YRS

The trailer

Alone, or with you

89101112131415161718

not yetwith an adult, or to talk about afteralone

The official US rating is R, and we never go below it. Alone from 17, and not before, even with an adult.

Official US rating: R. In France, zinema would say 12.

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What it's about

A disk jockey goes to Vietnam to work for the Armed Forces Radio Service. While he becomes popular among the troops, his superiors disapprove of his humor.

Why 17

The official rating, firstRated R in the US (restricted, under 17 requires an accompanying parent). zinema never goes below the country's rating: it explains it.
rule
Crude humour, on airThe DJ improvises without a filter: sexual innuendo, jokes about generals, impressions, and close to a hundred swear words. It is the salt of the film, and it is not for little ones.
The war that enters the filmA bomb attack in a bar, bloodied wounded, a convoy under fire, and a friend who turns out to belong to the other side; the comedy stops dead several times.
Beer, cigarettes and goodbyesThe soldiers drink and smoke constantly, and the film ends on partings, with tears.

What the movie brings

Robin Williams at full speed: a child discovers what improvising means.
The Vietnam war seen from a radio station, with censorship as the real enemy.
An American who befriends Vietnamese people and understands too late what he did not understand.

Watching it together

Before

Warn that the language is crude and that the war eventually breaks in; the rest is fireworks.

After

at 17 and up

Cronauer makes the soldiers laugh while they are being lied to: is he helping them or distracting them?

See the facts

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For the same age, on zinema

Drive – The Pretenders 17
Once Upon a Time 12, 11 with a parent
La Bataille de Gaulle : J’écris ton nom 13, 12 with a parent
Matchbox the Movie 13

The latest guides

A zinema reading from September 19, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made