Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this pointed documentary isn't meant for younger children -- not that they're likely to be interested in subject material like medical insurance companies, drug company lobbying, and government legislation regarding medical treatment anyway. That said, Moore makes the sometimes-difficult material understandable and frequently entertaining. Expect some very sad stories of things and people lost -- loved ones, property, and even hope -- as well as brief, potentially upsetting images (bloody injuries, a mentally troubled patient being turned out onto the street, etc). Language includes one pointed use of "bitch," by a tearful woman remembering her work as an insurance agent, and a written "f--k you" glimpsed on a Web site.
Sexual
Content
Jokey use of President Bush's famous malapropism ("Too many OB-GYNs are not able to practice their love with women all over this country").
Violence
Some brief grisly medical imagery (for example, a knee being stitched in the opening scenes); photo of severed finger; references to Iraq war and images of detainees at Guantanamo Bay (they play soccer, but they are in prison).
Language
A brief shot of an anti-Michael Moore Web site shows the written phrase "f--k you." In terms of what's said out loud, it's mostly pretty mild, including "suck," "bitch," and "ass."
Social
Behavior
The film casts the healthcare industry and the U.S. government in a negative light, using potentially upsetting scenes -- children crying as their father leaves for Iraq, a woman discussing her husband's death, a patient being cast into the street by a hospital worker, etc. -- to make its point.
Consumerism
Medical insurance and drug companies are named (Aetna, Pharma, etc.).
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Medications are dispensed and discussed.