MPAA ratings controversies

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MovieWes
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Blue Valentine's NC-17 Rating Overturned

The Classification and Rating Appeals Board today overturned the NC-17 rating given to the movie Blue Valentine. The Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) had assigned the movie the NC-17 rating for "a scene of explicit sexual content." The film is now rated R, on appeal, for "strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating."

In the appeal brought by The Weinstein Company, the Appeals Board heard statements on behalf of Blue Valentine from Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman of The Weinstein Company, and Alan Friedman, Counsel to The Weinstein Company. The Classification and Rating Administration was represented by Chairman Joan Graves.

Directed by Derek Cianfrance, the romantic drama stars Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Mike Vogel, John Doman and Maryann Plunkett. It is scheduled for a December 31 release.

Blue Valentine is the story of love found and love lost told in past and present moments in time. Flooded with romantic memories of their courtship, Dean and Cindy use one night to try and save their failing marriage.
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Post by MovieWes »

However, it should be noted that American Pie initially received an NC-17 for the pie scene and was edited down to an R rating. The NC-17 version apparently showed Jason Biggs' bare ass as he was on the table humping the pie. I think that all they had to do was cover up his ass with his shirt tail to secure the R.
"Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution." -- Alec Guinness (Lawrence of Arabia)
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Post by jack »

Okay, I'm basing this on Kirby Dick's film "This Film Is Not Yet Rated", but it always seems that if the sex scene(s) from a movie make them feel awkward in any way then the file receives an NC-17. An example from that doc was "But, I'm a Cheerleader" (I think that's what it was called) and "American Pie". Both films contained a masturbation scene, the former a girl and the latter a boy. Because one played within the context of the story, and the other for laughs, "But I'm a Cheerleader" was given an NC-17 and "American Pie" and R.

It's a fucked-up system the MPAA follow, and until they swap their position on sex and violence very few people will take them seriously.
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Post by Damien »

Back in the 70s, Jack Nicholson had a great line about the inconsistencies and inncongruties of the MPAA with sex and violence -- If you show a breast, that's an "R." But if you shoot an arrow throught that breast, you get a PG."
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Post by Bog »

It continues to be refreshing how the MPAA hangs in there vigorously to their ability to take any sex scene and threaten with the NC-17 a.k.a. a complete derailing of any success, both Oscar and box office. However, every Saw, Hostel, or whatever that Eli trash director comes up with next, is greeted warmly with an R rating.

Who are these members of the MPAA and what goes on in the privacy of their bedrooms exactly?

I'd be much more interested in a well-crafted, necessary to the story explicit sex scene than a well-crafted, "necessary", explicit hacking up of an entire body....that's just me
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Post by Big Magilla »

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Movies: Past, present and future

'How Do You Know' still tagged with an R, but that should change
November 11, 2010 | 4:37 pm

Poor James Brooks. The guy makes only his second movie in 13 years and winds up with his first R rating since "Broadcast News" back in 1987. And for a romantic comedy, no less.

The ratings board at the MPAA on Thursday announced that it was upholding the R rating on appeal for "some language" in the upcoming "How Do You Know." But the the fight isn't over yet.

Sony could yet make a small change and wind up with a PG-13 -- a rating the studio wants for the Reese Witherspoon-Paul Rudd romance, which comes out December 17, to lure younger viewers. A source close to the studio, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are ongoing, said that, even after the appeal, landing the less-severe rating was a matter of changing just a few words, and that Sony was making plans to do that and release "How Do You Know" as a PG-13 movie.

It's unclear how much a PG-13 will help the film- -- is it a movie teens will go to with their friends, or just with their parents (if at all)? But given how crowded the holiday season is, and how hard a time non-branded movies have at the box office these days, a PG-13 can't hurt. (It certainly didn't for Brooks' blockbuster "As Good as It Gets," which grossed nearly $150 million back in 1997.)

It's been a tough few months for the MPAA. The group was pilloried for handing an NC-17 to the relationship drama "Blue Valentine" because of what distributor the Weinstein Co. said was a hotel sex scene, and gave an R to the period drama "The King's Speech" because of a scene in which Colin Firth tries to overcome his repression by rattling off some swear words.

But maybe more than anything, the R for "How Do You Know," a studio comedy from an older director, is reminiscent of the same rating for Nancy Meyers' "It's Complicated" last year due to a pot-smoking moment. That R stuck, but the stakes were lower for that film: a love triangle between Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin may be aiming for a slightly different audience than one with Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson.

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