This Review is Not Yet Rated
If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend This Film is Not Yet Rated•. It has some problems, the main one that the director takes a shotgun approach, throwing up every argument he can think of instead of developing a coherent narrative. At one point they even start complaining that the military doesn’t give filmmakers access to military hardware without agreeing to pro-military terms. It’s an interesting issue, but as far as I can tell had nothing to do with the MPAA ratings system. The movie could have done with less of that and more about how the rating system works in real life.
It’s still a very interesting movie. They added a bit of excitement by hiring a private detective to track down the highly secretive ratings board and then filming some of the case. However, the highlights were the interviews with directors who have run afoul of the system, especially John Waters, Matt Stone, and Kevin Smith. Stone’s story was especially interesting. He’d been through the process both as an independent and as part of Paramount with Team America, so he saw the vastly different treatment the two kinds of movies receive. John Waters seemed almost heart-broken describing the process he’d been through with A Dirty Shame•.
I was very surprised to see the director of But I’m a Cheerleader• come on-screen, though. I’m sure everyone who sees even slightly edgy movies has realized that the same sex act can mean a different rating depending on whether it’s in a “straight” movie or a “gay” movie. But Cheerleader was about as wholesome as a satire could get. It’s a fairly standard, funny, teen comedy. Why would it be teetering between R and NC-17?
Turns out she had the same problem that both Waters and Smith (with Jersey Girl•) did: the implication of female pleasure. Compare the cut scene from the NC-17 version of Cheerleader—in which a fully-clothed woman masturbates—to what remained in American Pie, for example.
I saw it at the Ken Cinema, one of the local Landmark theaters, where it’ll be playing for the rest of the week.
- This Film is Not Yet Rated•
- “This Film Is Not Yet Rated should be required viewing for serious film fans, because the MPAA doesn’t just affect what gets seen—but what gets made.”
- But I’m a Cheerleader•
- A funny, touching, and sensitive satire about a young girl who fantasizes about other women and gets sent to a re-education camp for gays.
- A Dirty Shame•
- Tracey Ullman is beautiful as an uptight middle-aged woman who discovers the wonders of sexual healing in suburban Baltimore. A funny, disgusting movie. See it now.
- Jersey Girl•
- Kevin Smith tones down the comic book references and dick/fart jokes to make a family comedy. But it’s a family comedy involving Sweeney Todd, advertising executives, and, of course, New Jersey. Worth seeing.
- Team America, Fuck Yeah!
- Stone and Parker strike another satirical gold mine.
- This Film is Not Yet Rated petition
- “We ask that the NC-17 rating be replaced with a category that describes content fairly and accurately, but does not restrict the rights of individual parents to make their own decisions about what their minor children may see or limit the ability of adults to see films.”
- Ken Cinema
- “The Ken Cinema opened as the first theatre to bring quality foreign films to San Diego, and in 1975 was the second theatre to be acquired by Landmark Theatres.”
Remember: Trump reassures crowd after assassination attempt fails. (read more…)