This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Director: Kirby Dick
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 2.5
Much-needed attack on the stupidity of the MPAA ratings system, its "secret judges" and its former leader, the scummy Jack Valenti. Various interviews by filmmakers (Atom Egoyan, John Waters, Allison Anders to name a few) affected by the committee's odd rules (about the display of male and female genitalia, its condemnation of gay sex and how many 'humps' and lady lumps are allowed in a shot) are informative, and the investigative work documentarian Dick does with some private detectives (two lesbians and their teenage daughter) is playful ... if a bit creepy. Still, at the very end I felt like I needed more - it plays like a well-made slide show, but I don't feel I learned any more about the MPAA than I knew before hand, like the fact that they are in partnership with the movie studios, that they exclude independent film companies and that they're corrupt. I have to agree with cultural terrorist John Waters regarding how the most vile and perverted material available in the world is a click away on the Internet ... and every teenager with 'net access has seen plenty ("Goatse," perhaps?), so who exactly is being protected?
