Story
Fun Size is a teenage comedy drama about Wren (Victoria Justice), who is grieving the death of her father a year previously. Wren’s family members are all struggling with their grief too. Her mother (Chelsea Handler) is avoiding her feelings by dating a 26-year-old. Her eight-year-old brother, Albert (Jackson Nicholl), has stopped talking and is finding refuge in eating lollies.
Wren is distracted from her dysfunctional life when she’s invited to a Halloween party by the coolest boy at school, Aaron Riley (Thomas McDonnell). At the last minute, however, her mother leaves her responsible for her little brother for the night so she has to abandon her party plans. Wren and her best friend, April (Jane Levy), begrudgingly take Albert trick-or-treating instead. While they’re out on the busy Halloween streets, Wren loses sight of Albert and can’t find him in the sea of trick-or-treaters.
In a panic Wren calls on some geeky friends, Roosevelt (Thomas Mann) and Peng (Osric Chau), to help find Albert. Meanwhile, Albert has some Halloween adventures of his own as he meets many colourful characters while finding his way home.
Themes
Violence
This movie has some violence. For example:
- A man sets fire to the house where Albert is a hostage, using fireworks.
- Two bullies chase Wren and her friends and threaten them. The bullies chase them through the streets and corner them in a fast food restaurant. Peng stands up to the bullies and then shoots one of them with his musket gun. It shoots a piece of chicken, and no-one is hurt.
- Albert punches a bully in the groin.
- A man shoves Albert to the ground, and takes his candy. Albert is left alone.
- When Albert lets off a stink bomb, a man grabs him and takes him inside his house and locks him in. When Wren attempts to save Albert, the man forces her to pay money before she can get Albert back.
Content that may disturb children
Under 5
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, this movie has some scenes that could scare or disturb children under five years. For example:
- Wren goes through a haunted house on Halloween. She’s frightened by scary ghouls, and a ghostly lady jumps out at her.
- Albert goes missing on a busy street and is left alone. He is approached by a shop assistant who invites him into his car to go on an adventure with him. The shop assistant turns out to be friendly, but at the time he is a stranger to Albert.
- Albert is almost hit by a speeding car but is saved by a woman at the last minute.
- Albert spends the whole night by himself meeting random characters.
- A man puts Albert in his car and takes him to his run-down and isolated home.
From 5-8
Children in this age group might also be disturbed by the scenes mentioned above.
From 8-13
Children in this age group might also be disturbed by Albert’s misadventures. The scenes where a man who has drunk a lot of alcohol shoves and grabs Albert, and then locks him away, might be particularly disturbing to them.
Over 13
Most children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this movie.
Sexual references
This movie has some sexual references. For example:
- A boy stares at a school girl’s bottom.
- A shop assistant points to a pack of condoms.
- A man talks about having sex with his girlfriend to eight-year-old Albert.
- A character makes a gyrating pelvis movement, which refers to having sex.
- An oversized chicken falls on a car and moves up and down, which looks like it’s having sex with the car.
- A man is reading Fifty Shades of Grey.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie shows some use of substances. For example:
- There is a reference to Albert ‘mainlining’ his Halloween candy.
- A man talks to Albert, who is eight years old, about smoking.
- A man drinks alcohol while driving with Albert in his car.
- Wren goes to a high school party where most of the other people are drinking under age.
- Eight-year-old Albert is in a nightclub eating chocolates while older girls who are with him drink shots of alcohol.
- Wren’s mother goes to a college party where everyone is drinking.
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie shows some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Wren puts on a top with the breasts cut out.
- One scene shows a photo of an elderly woman in sexy lingerie in a seductive pose.
- Wren and Roosevelt kiss several times.
- April and Peng wake up on a couch together looking dishevelled. They kiss passionately.
- Fuzzy strips down naked and runs down the street to distract the police. His genital area is blurred out.
- A scene shows Wren’s younger brother, Albert, on the toilet naked. It doesn’t show his genital area.
- Peng wins a bet to feel April’s breast, which a scene shows him doing for 20 seconds. The scene shows April’s bra.
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in this movie: Mac, Burt’s Bees, Toyota, Porsche, Volvo and Converse.
Coarse language
This movie has some coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Fun Size is a teenage comedy drama about a girl whose Halloween plans go wrong when she’s landed with her troublesome little brother for the night, and they have some unexpected Halloween adventures. The themes of a grieving family and a young boy lost and facing possible danger, together with sexual references and coarse language, make this movie unsuitable for children under 10 years. Many parents might not want their tweens and younger teenagers to see it either.
The main messages from this movie are being true to yourself and sticking by your family.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include looking beyond the surface of things, and being loyal to friends and family.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues such as:
- under-age drinking
- peer pressure
- protective behaviour for children and children.