This Film Is Not Yet Rated – Documentary Review
Doc Uncovers the Truth about the MPAA Ratings Board
May 4, 2009
Directors Atom Egoyan, Kevin Smith, Trey Parker, Philip Kaufman, and Stanley Kubrick have all run up against the Motion Picture Association of America – which assigns each film a rating: G, PG, PG-13, R or “the dreaded” NC-17. Anyone with more than a passing interest in film will be familiar with the sometimes-epic battles waged between directors or distributors and the MPAA –which was led for nearly 40 years by the late Jack Valenti.
For all the controversy it has generated over the years, and despite the scope of its power, the board itself has remained shrouded in mystery. Who are its members? What are their qualifications? By what criteria do they assign films a rating? Director Kirby Dick’s brilliant 2006 exposé, This Film is Not Rated uncovers the truth about the movie industry’s now 40-year-old film-industry bully in a manner that is both eye-opening and highly entertaining.
An Engaging Detective Story
This Film is Not Rated is part detective story, part expose, and part sober documentation of the glaring inconsistencies and double standards that characterize the board’s rulings. The action begins with the filmmaker’s perusing of the classifieds in search of a private detective to join him on his mission. What follows, with the detective hired, is an intriguing mix of creative deception, stalking, nocturnal dumpster-diving, patience and unflagging determination – as Dick and his team manage to navigate road block after road block.
The documentary features interviews with many luminaries of the independent film community, including:
- Atom Egoyan (Where the Truth Lies)
- Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry)
- Matt Stone (South Park)
- Jamie Babbitt (But, I’m a Cheerleader)
- Kevin Smith (Clerks)
- Wayne Kramer (The Cooler)
- John Waters (Hairspray).
As the directors discuss their run-ins with the board in detail, clips of the scenes in question illustrate the oft-time ludicrousness of the MPAA’s objections. In addition to the bevy of directors, actors Maria Bello and William H. Macy also appear.
MPAA: Double Standards and Inconsistencies
Through a split/screen montage of straight sexual content (approved by the board) and highly similar gay sexual content (objected to by the board), this doc makes irrefutable the MPAA’s double standard when it comes to matters of sexual diversity. It also reveals the favouritism the rating’s board shows to studio films over independent ones, and its liberalism with respect to violence over sexuality. (Director Pierce ponders the MPAA’s tacit acceptance of a scene in which her protagonist’s brains are splattered against a wall by a gunshot to the head, but strong objection to a scene depicting a woman’s prolonged sexual pleasure.)
On a lighter note, there’s a hilarious thrust tally, which attempts to ascertain the number of such actions which would earn a film an NC-17 rating – which in the US, can doom a movie to obscurity and box-office failure.
Does Kirby Dick succeed in accomplishing the goal he set out to achieve? It’s worth seeing the film to find out. By the end of This Film is Not Yet Rated, this much is clear: if the rulings of the MPAA appear arbitrary and inconsistent, it’s only because they are. And, while there’s little doubt the Emperor comes up short in the wardrobe department, unfortunately, he’s still a bully and wields the biggest stick on the block.
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