This Film is Not Yet Rated: Movie & DVD Review (2006)

(Originally published 2006)

Kirby Dick's documentary, “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” takes on the Motion Picture Association of America, exposes its inherent weirdness, secretiveness and hypocrisies, and has a good time doing so.

Perhaps too much a good time.

Throughout, the movie weaves in and out of focus, with Dick veering in directions that detract from his point--the MPAA, which Jack Valenti created in 1968 and which has since been responsible for rating most of the movies we see, is a broken system comprised of a mysterious group of parents unqualified for the job.

For anyone who has ever questioned the inconsistencies inherent in movie ratings (and why not when they're so blatant?), this is a tempting subject to explore, so the good news is that when the movie does stay on track, it asks the right questions.

Dick believes the American public deserves to know those whose moral judgments directly influence what comes (or what doesn't come) to a theater near you. He believes it’s unfair--and more than a little odd--that the MPAA demands to work within an environment of strict anonymity, presumably because they don't want their employees to feel pressured or, worse, to be questioned as to how they arrived at a certain rating.

But why shouldn’t they be questioned? And what's the trouble with accountability? When a group’s standards are as shaky as those embraced by the MPAA, which routinely favors big studios over independents and which gives liberal leeway to graphic violence and gore over sex and sexuality, shouldn’t filmmakers and the public have the right to know who these people are?

Determined to put a face to them, Dick, who fancies himself as something of a Michael Moore (though he doesn't come close to achieving Moore's intelligence or his calculating sense of humor), hires a private investigator to root out the group while also making the mistake of dipping into her personal life (who cares?). Meanwhile, he talks to such directors as John Waters, Matt Stone, Kimberly Peirce and Mary Harron, as well as actress Maria Bello, about their personal experiences with the MPAA and how each of their films was given the undesirable--and unmarketable--NC-17 rating.

Since many theater chains and retailers won't go near such a movie, the filmmakers are forced to make a choice--either release the film as is and take a substantial financial loss or compromise their vision and remove the offensive material. The problem with this? Incredibly, the MPAA refuses to tell them which scenes are offensive, so the filmmakers are left to wonder exactly how they offended.

All of this makes for a compelling case in favor of reforming the MPAA, but Dick, who is having too much fun pulling his share of hair here, errs in that he isn't interested in offering alternative ways to fix the organization he's criticizing. This is the film's weakness. Instead of getting on his soap box, pointing his finger at injustice and having something instructive to say about it, he just gets on his box and points. As a result, his movie is entertaining and revealing, but in the end, it’s also slight.

Grade: B-