THE INCOHERENTS
An entertaining reunion story with strong adult content.
Should You Watch It?
The Incoherents offers an appealing story about four men in their mid-40s trying to revive the 1990s indie rock band they left behind. The film finds worthwhile themes in friendship, reunion, marriage, forgiveness, and the desire to pursue a dream before it is too late. It also includes good rock music and some funny moments.
The movie’s adult content is substantial. Strong foul language is frequent, and the story includes lewd moments, sexual situations, partial nudity, alcohol, drunkenness, cigarette smoking, marijuana references, and abundant nightclub partying. The story sometimes drags, too.
If you are an adult who can thoughtfully weigh those concerns, the film’s redemptive themes may give you something to consider. For children and young teens, choose something else: this is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESBruce spends his days in a mundane office job and his nights writing lyrics in his basement. He once left behind his rising 1990s indie rock band, The Incoherents, to pursue a stable career and start a family.
Now Bruce calls his old bandmates, Jimmy, Tyler, and Keith, to reunite. As they face a changed music scene, new responsibilities, marriages, and children, the band must decide whether a second chance at music is worth the cost.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means The Incoherents is an interesting, moderately entertaining film with clear strengths and limitations. Its storyline gives the band’s reunion a relatable emotional foundation, and the rock music adds energy. Several comic moments also provide welcome levity.
The film’s central conflict is easy to understand: four older musicians are trying to balance dreams with careers, marriages, and family responsibilities. However, the story sometimes drags, keeping the movie from reaching its full potential.
The Worldview
The film presents a light moral, redemptive worldview. It exalts friendship, reunion, forgiveness, and marriage through Bruce’s attempts to reconnect with his bandmates and repair damaged relationships. Bruce and Jimmy eventually address their long separation, and Bruce and his wife try to work through their marital problems.
The movie also recognizes that pursuing a dream can affect other people. Bruce’s desire to return to music puts strain on his marriage, especially when he lies to his wife about performing in Boston. The story ultimately treats reconciliation and forgiveness as worthwhile, even though its moral vision remains light rather than explicitly biblical.
The film’s strongest longing is for restored relationships and a meaningful life beyond routine. Scripture calls believers to that kind of forgiveness: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Light moral, redemptive worldview promotes friendship, reunion, forgiveness, and marriage, despite some problems and conflicts
Foul Language
At least 33 obscenities (including many “f” words), one GD profanity, a band is named “black stool,” a character urinates in public under an overpass, and a man throws up while drunk
Violence
No violence
Sex
Implied oral sex between man and wife in one scene, implied marital sex, and the couple kisses passionately, the next morning while their children roll their eyes, people in nightclub kiss, one band member kisses a lot of girls, brief sexual dialogue in a couple scenes, a heterosexual couple with their shirts off kiss in a hot tub backstage, and a man suggests his co-worker has “brass balls” because he stands up to his boss
Nudity
Brief partial upper female, nudity of woman in hot tub with her blouse off, and upper male nudity in a couple scenes
Alcohol Use
Abundance of alcohol drinking and some drunkenness depicted
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
Cigarette smoking and references to smoking marijuana in two scenes;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Lying and betrayal, but the conflicts these bring are straightened out later.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Bruce wants to recover a dream from his past, but pursuing it affects his marriage. How can you recognize when a good desire is beginning to harm your responsibilities?
Proverbs 16:9 · 1 Timothy 5:8The band members must face years of distance and conflict. What does genuine forgiveness require from both the person who caused harm and the person who was hurt?
Ephesians 4:31–32 · Colossians 3:13The film connects friendship with reunion and renewal. What qualities make a friendship strong enough to survive long seasons of silence?
Proverbs 17:17 · Proverbs 27:17Bruce and his wife both pursue their dreams. How can spouses encourage one another while still honoring the covenant of marriage?
Genesis 2:24 · Ephesians 5:25, 33The Final Word
The Incoherents offers adults an engaging reunion story with good music, humor, and a hopeful emphasis on friendship, marriage, and forgiveness. Its strong adult content and uneven pacing require discernment. Our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For a family movie night, see.
