Charlie XCX’s mockumentary, The Moment, offers a look into her chaotic rise in fame via her album Brat. The movie showcases the dangers of hustle culture and seeking affirmation through worldly means. But it also comes with a plethora of sexual content and crude language.
“Brat summer” was a success—more so than anyone could have imagined. Thanks to the explosive rise of her 2024 album Brat, Charli XCX became a household name within the world of pop music. Millions started using the term “brat” to refer to being “unapologetically messy yet confident” rather than being a spoiled child or a German pork sausage.
The problem with claiming a whole summer for your album, however, is that seasons change.
That’s why Charli’s team wants to capitalize on the brat hysteria before it dies down. They’ve got plenty of plans, all made with little-to-no input from Charli herself: They’ll use legendary concert director Johannes to film her upcoming concert. They’ll collaborate with a bank to promote a brat-themed credit card “for queer people.” They’ll pull Charli left and right from promotion to advertisement to photo shoot.
However, Charli isn’t sure what she thinks about “brat summer.” Sure, it skyrocketed her into fame, but even Charli knows it can’t last. But with the world in a fervor for all things brat, Charli doesn’t know how to tell her fans that summer’s ending. And even if things do wind down, she’s on a pedestal now. The whole world is waiting to see what she’ll do next with her fame. And to be honest, she has no idea what’s next.
But like all viral things, brat can be exploited for money. Even if Charli doesn’t know what she wants, her producers, label and directors know how to use it to fill their pocketbooks.
And pretty soon, brat isn’t quite what Charli intended it to be anymore.
The Moment tackles plenty of inherent issues with celebrity and popular culture. Most notably, it showcases how fans (and the world at large) can take hold of an idea and appropriate it for themselves, making it very difficult for the originator of the idea to keep it within the scope he or she intended. In this case, Charli slowly gives up control over the brat movement as she recognizes just how chaotic things are getting.
And that speaks to the danger of hustle culture. Many people tell Charli that she “needs to keep going,” that she must keep herself relevant. And so she spends her days and nights in constant stress while trying to maintain brat’s virality. It exhausts her to the point of an outburst, and later, a numb depression. She’s only able to find rest when she lets go of that crazy momentum.
There are some softer moments within this film that highlight the problems with craving the world’s affection. Charli realizes that she’s been desperately seeking collective approval for affirmation, and yet, it’s only left her feeling tired and upset. The pursuit ends up consuming her rather than fulfilling her.
When Charli realizes she’s hurt a friend who’d only been looking out for her, she calls that friend and apologizes.
A holistic facialist says some spiritual mumbo jumbo about releasing negative energies to preserve beauty. Someone else describes a location as a “sacred space.”
Charli displays a lot of skin throughout the film, and it’s occasionally at the behest of various producers: A gay man intentionally dresses Charli in a short skirt because he thinks “sluttier” is better; the garment covers little as she performs, and the camera seems to intentionally finds angles that film up her skirt. Elsewhere, producers dress Charli in a tight and revealing outfit for a promotion. And the movie itself begins with Charli dancing around in revealing lingerie while lights flash.
Outside of that objectifying marketing campaign, we also see Charli and others in revealing bikinis or underwear. A couple of women very obviously go around without bras. And a few men dance shirtless.
A gay man admits to Charli that he postponed his honeymoon with his partner to assist Charli on her tour. Charli’s marketing team seeks to partner with a bank to make brat-themed credit cards, and they hope to specifically target “queer people.” In fact, they consider only offering the cards to homosexual people. When someone asks how they’ll be able to tell if someone is gay, a man responds that you can “usually tell.” Later, when a woman asks Charli if she can get one of the credit cards, Charli makes a joke, asking if the woman is “at least bi.” And when issues arise from the promotion, someone angrily blames “gay criminals.”
A woman wears a shirt describing herself as a repository for semen.
A man tells Charli that he attempted to kill himself but that her music saved his life. Charli accidentally cuts her hand on some broken glass, and she unintentionally smears the resulting blood over herself as she struggles to clean up the wound. A dead bird falls from the rafters of a concert venue.
We hear the f-word somewhere close to 100 times and the s-word seven times. The c-word flashes across a screen repeatedly during one scene. Other crudities include “a–,” “b–ch,” “h—,” “bloody” and “p-ss.” God’s name is used in vain nearly 20 times, including one instance paired with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is used in vain twice.
Someone says that Charli is “literally singing about cocaine.” Later, a man jokes that Charli should offer free bags of the drug to people who sign up for a brat-themed credit card.
Charli smokes cigarettes. A couple of characters vape. People drink alcohol.
Various people and corporations do everything they can to tear control away from Charli and her crew, using power and manipulation to put themselves in charge.
Flashing text and lights assault viewers throughout the film.
Every so often, a movie will come along that just does our jobs for us.
In the midst of Charli XCX’s mockumentary, The Moment, she and friend Celeste argue with concert director Johannes. Focused on generating as much money as possible, Johannes complains that some of the elements in Charli’s show aren’t going to appeal to families. Celeste then reminds Johannes that Charli’s shows aren’t meant to be PG.
“She’s literally singing about cocaine,” Celeste says.
And, yeah, that about sums it up. Charli XCX does not claim to be an artist for parents and their children. As Celeste points out, Charli’s target audience is more nightclubbers with no plans to have kids than anyone whose bedtime is before midnight.
However, despite that overt admission (and like many other not-so-family-friendly musicians), Charli has nevertheless gained plenty of young fans—many of whom just might beg to go see their pop icon’s newest movie. So, while The Moment summarizes who the movie is for, parents who missed the train on Charli XCX may want to know that the movie is filled with sexual imagery and references as well as crude language.
Granted, like many musician-based movies, I imagine your response to The Moment will largely depend on whether you were already a fan of Charli’s going in: If you weren’t, you probably won’t care much for this movie.
And if you were, you’ll likely think, regardless of what’s on screen, “I don’t care; I love it.”
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
