The Campaign: what age is it for? 17, alone or with a parent
From 17, alone or with a parent.
Official US rating: R. In France, zinema would say 14.
Alone, or with you
The official US rating is R, and we never go below it. Alone from 17, and not before, even with an adult.
The sweet spot: around 17-19, once an election campaign starts to mean something to you, and the caricature reads as caricature. Why a sweet spot?
The trailer
What it's about
Two rival politicians compete to win an election to represent their small North Carolina congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.
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
- A sex scene, shown and then replayedThe film shows two characters in bed, with very crude words, then turns the footage into a campaign weapon. It is played for laughs, and it is explicit.shown
- Coarse language, start to finishInsults and body words land in almost every scene. This is not one slip, it is the language of the film.shown
- The laughs come from humiliationMost of the jokes consist of putting someone down in public, and the film shows adults doing it without limit. A child without the distance may take away the method rather than the satire.said
- Heavy drinking, drugs in the talkAlcohol runs through a great many scenes and drugs come up in conversation, and the film never once objects.shown
What the movie brings
- A satire showing how a campaign manufactures an image, with money and soundbites.
- A way to understand why a candidate says what he says, and who pays for him to say it.
Watching it together
You can say beforehand that everything is exaggerated on purpose, and that the film mocks both camps equally.
at 17 and up
When does a joke stop being funny for the person on the receiving end?
See the facts
For the same age, on zinema
- Brothers 17, 16 with a parent
- The Love Hypothesis 17, 16 with a parent
- Le Roi Soleil 14, 13 with a parent
- Vingt Dieux 14, 13 with a parent
The latest guides
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- The Rivals of Amziah King 17
- The Big Short 17
- The Social Network 14, 13 with a parent
A zinema reading from September 25, 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