This Film Is Not Yet Rated Review
by dnb@dca.net (dnb AT dca DOT net)September 27th, 2006
THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2006 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
Few parents, I suspect, would deny the need for some kind of entity that provides information regarding a film's content--the amount (if any) of graphic violence, sexual situations and/or nudity, adult themes and language, and so on--so that they (the parents) are in a better position to determine which films are suitable for their children to watch.
On the strength of Kirby Dick's impassioned if one-sided documentary "This Film is Not Yet Rated" fewer parents still would likely agree that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is it.
Established in 1968 as a successor to the Hays Code and headed up until recently by former Whitehouse special assistant Jack Valenti, the MPAA is the group that determines how films are rated, whether they receive a G, PG, PG-13, R, or NC-17 (formerly X) rating. Valenti has frequently cited theses ratings as merely "guidelines" and that filmmakers who get an NC-17, say, are free to release their film unrated if they disagree with the group's decision. But few theaters will book such films, few publications will advertise them, and few video stores will carry the titles on their shelves, so profitability is seriously at stake.
With perhaps the singular exception of the CIA (as one interviewee puts it), the MPAA is the only known organization in this vast democracy of ours whose members' identities are kept well and truly secret. That decision is supposedly "to protect them from pressure" but, as Dick's film will demonstrate, that's simply a foretaste of the hypocrisy at play here. Dick even hires a private detective to find out who these people ("mostly parents") are, discovering that few actually meet the requirements of their company profile, that rating decisions are often quite arbitrary, and that Valenti himself is clouded by the belief that the majority of NC-17 decisions are for violence, not sex (when, in fact, the reverse is true by a factor of four!).
"This Film is Not Yet Rated" is composed of three acts lovingly spliced together. Certainly the most fascinating elements of the film are the interviews with filmmakers, authors, legal experts, and industry professionals regarding their experiences with the MPAA. Director Kimberly Peirce speaks eloquently and passionately about the problems the ratings board had with her "Boys Don't Cry"; Dick posits the NC-17 and R-rated versions of a specific scene side-by-side for comparison's sake ("too long an orgasm" in the former). Likewise Mary Harron, director of "American Psycho," talks about the threesome (*not* the chainsaw or ax murder) sequence that rancored the raters. Equally enthralling are commentaries from Matt Stone ("South Park"), John Waters, Kevin Smith, actress Maria Bello ("The Cooler"), and "Newsweek" critic David Ansen.
Less compelling is the insistent--and downright foolish--coverage of the MPAA's office space under the shaky surveillance of Dick's private dick, checking out license plates through binoculars in a parked car. These scenes are amateurish, dull, and take away significantly from those with something important to say.
The third and admittedly most amusing section of the film details Dick's attempts to get his own film (this one) rated, a ludicrous foregone conclusion that includes an appeals process presided over by, surprise surprise, yet another committee of undisclosed individuals.
Censorship is alive and well in Hollywoodland but it goes under another name: the MPAA.
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David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net
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