Shut Up about the NC-17 Rating for Kevin Smith’s ‘Zack and Miri’
Let's think before we speak folks...
There have been articles about hypocrisy and just plain wrong doing when it comes to the NC-17 rating handed down by the MPAA with regards to Kevin Smith’s next flick Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Now, the AP is reporting Smith’s appeal of the rating has gone through and the film will indeed be rated R. Hypocrisy, wrong doing, that dumb MPAA… yeah, it all is a big pain in the ass, but guess what… It doesn’t matter one bit, things are likely to never change.
SlashFilm calls it a “huge victory” saying the film will be going out “uncut and uncensored”. This just isn’t true. First off, it isn’t a “huge” victory. Yeah, it’s a win and Kevin won’t need to cut the film any more, but Smith was under contract to deliver an R-rating and he had cut the film a couple times already trying to get the NC-17 removed before appealing the rating because he just couldn’t shake it. So, the film will be cut and censored to some degree (I believe only about 12 seconds). On top of that, this is a continual step backwards for films as they have to continue to be cut for mass appeal as the dreaded NC-17 will never become a welcomed rating. If you think there isn’t going to be an unrated cut guess again. I don’t think there is any chance this is the exact version of the film Smith wanted to release and as the director I would say that makes it a loss for him. Sure, he may be perfectly fine with the version that is going to be released, but to the fact that a governing body had to tell him how his project had to be before it could be shown to audiences is not a win at all.
This also reminds me of the articles a few weeks back saying that Darren Aronofsky’s RoboCop would be rated R and what a big deal that was. Big whoopty woo. It’s Darren Aronofsky folks, this guy fought to release The Fountain, made Pi and Requiem for a Dream. Did you really think he wasn’t going to make a cool version of RoboCop, or at least something worth seeing? Ratings only have something to do with films made at studios like Fox where they continually cut and water things down for a PG-13 rating and even when they score an R (Hitman) they still find a way to release an unrated cut of the film on DVD. Too bad both versions sucked monkey balls proving that an R-rating means jack shit if the product isn’t any good.
I am all for R rated movies and had the MPAA fucked with Christopher Nolan on The Dark Knight, a film I am surprised got by with a PG-13, he would have had to cut out some of those scenes that made it as great as it was because I am sure he was contractually obligated to make a PG-13 movie. If you want someone to shout at, stop shouting at the MPAA and get pissed at studios for requiring directors to turn in a certain kind of film and a specific rating. McG said it best recently when he said Warner Bros. told him to just make Terminator Salvation and if it is rated R it is rated R, just go for it. Perhaps one of these days filmmakers will be able to make the films they want to make and the rating won’t matter. It’s unlikely and a whole new rating system would have to be devised to relieve the stigma related to the NC-17 rating since a film that acquires that rating is certain to throw up red flags, but then again, if your movie is good the intended audience will still come.
I wish every film was rated NC-17, at least that way the punk ass teenage kids that are underage and the idiot parents that bring their screaming children that shouldn’t be there in the first place won’t even be in attendance. Essentially what this “huge victory” did for Smith’s film is ensure that parents will be bringing their underage kids to a movie they probably shouldn’t see in the first place. Yay for that!
Personally I want to see the version of Zack and Miri that Kevin Smith originally submitted to the MPAA. Too bad that will probably never happen since we will probably only get the “Boobs and Bush” version on DVD or the regular old theatrical release, neither of which will probably be Smith’s original intention. Oh well. Bottom line is that the MPAA will always piss people off, but it is a losing battle when money is involved because the problem starts at the studio level and the need to make a film that can be seen by the widest possible range of people no matter what the subject matter. Yeah, for some reason showing a woman’s vadge is worse than showing people getting cut into many tiny pieces, but continuing to sit at your computer complaining about it isn’t going to solve anything. So either you get off your ass and do something real about it or just be quiet.
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