Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Parents need to know that Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is a documentary that examines the inner life of the celebrity chef and travel host who died via suicide in 2018 at the age of 61. Bourdain overcame a dependency on heroin, redirecting his addictive personality into other avenues. But he drank and smoked with zeal, and he's frank about doing drugs, from the point of view of wanting to be a junkie. Teens may not perceive the consequences of his substance (ab)use, but they are likely to pick up on the fact that his all-in attitude also led to him becoming a world-famous success -- so it might be worth having a conversation about the double-edged nature of that aspect of his personality. The movie more or less blames Bourdain's death on his ex-girlfriend, who's vilified. Bourdain himself is never let off the hook for being difficult, but he's also celebrated. And while the film definitely shares important messages about the way he saw the world with open eyes and shared it, it also supports a suicidal ideation fantasy: Here, Bourdain is remembered, he's missed, and he's legendary. Expect extreme, persistent profanity ("f--k," "d--k"), some sexual content, and animals being killed in potentially upsetting ways (for example, a cobra's beating heart is cut out and eaten).