DEFINITELY, MAYBE
An entertaining romance that is not the family movie it claims to be.
Should You Watch It?
DEFINITELY, MAYBE is very entertaining. It is well written, filled with fun twists and turns, and built around engaging characters. Abigail Breslin’s Maya is especially appealing, and the film offers both laugh-out-loud and tear-jerking moments.
But the movie’s marketing presents it as a warm father-daughter, family-friendly story. The actual film contains strong sexual content, graphic sex-education discussions spoken by elementary-aged children, unmarried couples living together, implied fornication, homosexual content, profanity, alcohol, smoking, and a negative view of traditional marriage. Its Romantic worldview treats illicit relationships and hedonistic lifestyles as more rewarding than marriage.
This is best watched only by discerning adults at home, where you can make the decision for your own conscience and family.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESWill Hayes, a divorced Manhattan father, recounts his complicated relationship history to his 10-year-old daughter, Maya. He changes the names of the three women involved, turning his past into a romance mystery as Maya tries to discover which woman became her mother.
The story begins when Will is a young college student working with the Young Democrats of America during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. As Will tells the tale, Maya learns that love and family history can be complicated.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is, by industry standards, a great movie. DEFINITELY, MAYBE is very well written, with fun twists and turns and engaging characters. Abigail Breslin gives the story a particularly appealing center as Maya.
The film also has several laugh-out-loud moments and some tear-jerking moments. Its entertainment value is real, even though the sexual content and worldview make it unsuitable for families.
The Worldview
The film presents physical and emotional love outside marriage as the height of human experience. It depicts traditional marriage negatively, describing it as a “capitalist, consumer agenda” destined to fail, while presenting illicit relationships and hedonistic lifestyles as more emotionally rewarding. Its Romantic outlook is reinforced by politically correct and left-wing political elements, including conversations about civil rights, feminism, and personal sexual choice.
The film also includes sex education for 10-year-old children, with graphic descriptions of sexuality and human anatomy. It treats these ideas comedically, but the content still reflects a culture willing to expose children to adult sexual information. The story’s treatment of divorce illustrates the damage it can cause, including children being torn between their parents.
Scripture honors marriage as a covenant rather than merely a consumer arrangement: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife” (Genesis 2:24). The film’s longing for love and family is real, but its understanding of how that longing is rightly fulfilled departs sharply from that biblical vision.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong Romantic, yet immoral and pagan, worldview dealing with physical and emotional love outside of marriage as the height of the human experience, also with strong politically correct elements as elementary school children (10-year-olds) are taught sex education at school with some very graphic descriptions, left-wing political elements as main character’s story is set against the backdrop of working for the Young Democrats of America who helped Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign that includes politically correct conversations as well as statements about civil rights for African Americans and feminism for women to do what they want with their own bodies, negative comments about George W. Bush before he was president, some video footage of Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinski confessing to illicit relationships with former President Bill Clinton, anti-capitalist statement with Communist implications about marriage as a “capitalist, consumer agenda,” and homosexual elements as woman’s diary reveals that she had a lesbian experience in college; 13 obscenities and six light profanities; one instance of violence as man is slapped by woman; strong sexual content includes sex education class at public school for 10-year-olds where children leave the classroom using very descriptive dialogue about sexuality and human anatomy, although most children are freaking out to their parents about the information, man carries on several illicit relationships, implied fornication, several unmarried couples living together, woman admits to sleeping with man’s roommate, woman admits to homosexual experience in college, 10-year-old girl calls her dad a “male slut,” quick talk of group sex, frank discussions about former President Bill Clinton’s adulterous affairs, several scenes of unmarried kissing, and discussions of college professor’s illicit relationships with his students; upper male nudity; alcohol depicted in several parties from beer to wine to hard liquor and some drunkenness depicted; cigarette smoking depicted in several scenes and character mentions that marijuana use should be legalized; and, lying, cheating, couple bets on which cigarettes burn faster, littering, video footage of former President Bill Clinton lying under oath, and a negative view of traditional marriage.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The film presents love outside marriage as deeply fulfilling. What does Scripture say makes marriage different from other relationships?
Genesis 2:24 · Hebrews 13:4Maya is affected by her parents’ divorce. How can adults protect children from being torn between parents?
Ephesians 6:4 · Colossians 3:21The film shows children reacting to graphic sexual information at school. How should parents guide children in understanding their bodies and sexuality?
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 · Proverbs 4:23The movie presents traditional marriage negatively. How can Christians respond when a popular story defines love differently from Scripture?
Romans 12:2 · Philippians 4:8The Final Word
DEFINITELY, MAYBE is a polished, funny, emotionally engaging movie with a worldview and content that make it unsuitable for children and young teens. Watch it only at home if you are a discerning adult prepared to weigh those concerns. Our answer is WAIT FOR HOME — ADULTS ONLY. For a more redemptive father-daughter story, see.
