THE WEEKEND AWAY
A gripping mystery for discerning adults, with strong objectionable content.
Should You Watch It?
Here is the decision plainly: The Weekend Away is an intense, well-made crime thriller that keeps you guessing. Its mystery draws you through a missing-person investigation in which trust steadily breaks down, and its light moral worldview gives friendship and justice real weight.
The cost is substantial. The movie includes brief sexual content, violence, nearly 20 obscenities and profanities, heavy drinking, implied drug use, and a sustained focus on the lead character’s psychological turmoil. Those elements make this unsuitable for children and young teens.
If you are an adult—or an older teenager—with discernment about strong content and an appetite for tense mysteries, it is worth watching. For a family movie night, choose something else.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESBeth travels to Croatia to spend a weekend with her best friend, Kate, who is recovering from a breakup. Kate wants to party, and Beth reluctantly joins her for a night of drinking and clubbing.
The next morning, Beth cannot remember what happened, and Kate is missing. With broken glass and blood in the apartment, Beth begins searching for answers—but soon realizes she may not be able to trust anyone around her.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is a strong thriller, not merely a serviceable one. The Weekend Away is intense and well made, and it keeps viewers guessing as Beth investigates her friend’s disappearance.
The movie’s suspense grows from the uncertainty surrounding that night and from Beth’s increasing inability to trust the people around her. The story focuses closely on her psychological turmoil, which adds pressure to the mystery. Its strong objectionable content is the main reason this excellent thriller is not suitable for younger viewers.
The Worldview
The film presents a weak moral worldview, focused mostly on the thrills of its mystery. Still, it offers a light positive vision through one true friend who proves faithful and through a limited picture of justice prevailing.
The movie also shows how a hedonistic, immoral attitude can lead people into trouble. Characters lie and deceive one another, sometimes to protect people they love, but those choices bring emotional and physical turmoil. The film recognizes friendship and justice without grounding either one in a distinctly biblical understanding of God, sin, or redemption.
Its central moral insight is that deception and selfish choices damage relationships, while faithful friendship matters. Scripture likewise says, “A friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Weak moral worldview that’s mostly focused on the thrills involved in a mystery thriller, with one example of a true friend who proves to be faithful and a light example of justice prevailing, but lead female character’s friend has a hedonistic, immoral attitude that gets them into trouble
Foul Language
Six or seven obscenities and about 11 profanities, including two Jesus profanities, plus woman vomits after drinking heavily the night before
Violence
While the violence is not particularly gory, it runs throughout the movie, a woman is murdered and drowns (this happens off screen, but her dead body is shown several times), a woman drops a wine glass on her foot, and there’s some blood, a man chases and tackles another man, a woman in an effort to escape slams a man’s nose with a door and causes his mouth to bleed, a man hits his head on a table, and there are many conversations about possible sexual violence, but they are never depicted or confirmed
Sex
Briefly depicted fornication between a man and a woman (though there’s no nudity) is shown through a computer screen and difficult to see, woman in her underwear kisses two men in a hot tub, a major plot point is that a wife is unaware of an affair involving her husband, this is emotional and intensely depicted throughout the movie, and one character finds condoms
Nudity
Cameras reveal some upper male nudity, a woman is seen in her underwear, voyeurism is implied by some criminals but never fully shown, and a woman wears revealing clothing
Alcohol Use
Heavy alcohol use throughout the movie, two women friends are drunk before they even go out clubbing the night of one of the women’s disappearance, but the connection to their excessive drinking and the situation is clearly stated
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking, woman discovers that another woman had snorted cocaine, and there are other mentions of drugs as a possible reason for the first woman’s lack of memory;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Characters lie and deceive their alleged friends, some lie as a way to protect those they love but the consequences of their actions result in emotional and physical turmoil, woman encourages married woman to be unfaithful to her husband and to divorce him (this occurs before the married woman discovers her husband’s own unfaithfulness and deceit).
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Kate’s desire to party leads Beth into a dangerous situation. How can friendship include both encouragement and loving restraint?
Proverbs 27:17 · Galatians 6:1–2The characters lie to protect people they love, but those lies cause emotional and physical turmoil. When, if ever, do we think secrecy protects someone—and what does Scripture call us toward instead?
Ephesians 4:25 · Proverbs 12:22The film presents friendship and justice as moral goods. How does biblical justice go beyond getting answers or exposing wrongdoing?
Micah 6:8 · Isaiah 1:17The Final Word
The Weekend Away is a gripping, well-made thriller with a light positive worldview about friendship and justice. Its strong content makes it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults and older teenagers, our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For a family movie night, consider.
