Argylle gets a PG-13; Matthew Vaughn’s first in over a decade

Last Updated on December 15, 2023

It looks like Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle is going to be a more family-friendly adventure for the director, with the latest round of MPAA ratings revealing that the spy-comedy has nabbed a PG-13 rating. The official rating states, Rated PG-13 for strong violence and action and some strong language. All of this is a big departure from the more adult-oriented Kingsman movies, but Vaughn seems to be taking some big swings with this one in the hope of building a franchise.

There’s nothing worse than a trailer that spoils the movie it’s supposed to be promoting, but that won’t be a problem for Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle. The first full trailer for the upcoming spy adventure was released in September and while it took some pretty big swings, it didn’t give away all its secrets, not by far.

While speaking with Total Film, Matthew Vaughn said that the Argylle trailer was cut from footage found in the first 28 minutes of the movie, with lots of “cool shit” left tightly under wraps. “Well, the good news about the trailer is that that’s only cut from the first 28 minutes of the movie,” Vaughn said. “I was really, really impressed by Universal and Apple when I said, ‘I want to do a trailer from the first 28 minutes, because there is some f**king mind-blowing cool shit – but it wouldn’t be as great if you saw it in the trailer.’ I said, ‘Look, let’s just give everyone enough so that they understand the tone of the film, the style of the movie, the actors. And then let everyone enjoy the fucking cinematic experience.’“

Argylle stars Bryce Dallas Howard as Elly Conway, a reclusive author of a series of best-selling espionage novels whose idea of bliss is a night at home with her computer and her cat, Alfie. But when the plots of Elly’s fictional books — which center on secret agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate — begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past. Sam Rockwell also stars as Aiden, a cat-allergic spy who races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Elly’s fictional world and her real one begins to blur.

The film also stars John Cena (Fast X), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Dua Lipa (Barbie), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), and Samuel L. Jackson (The Marvels). Alfie is played by Chip, who just so happens to be the real-life cat of Claudia Schiffer, Matthew Vaughn’s wife.

Argylle will be released on February 2, 2024, followed by a streaming release on Apple TV+ at a later date.