This Film is Not Yet Rated

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This Film is Not Yet Rated

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This Film is Not Yet Rated

John Waters, Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, Kimberly Peirce, Atom Egoyan

This documentary investigates Hollywood's best-kept secret: the MPAA film ratings system and its profound impact on American culture.

Id: 10890784

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This Film is Not Yet Rated Recent Reviews

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This Film is Not Yet Rated Recent Reviews
  • kiriyamakazou
    April 11, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    It's no surprise that the US rating system is a huge sham. It's hypocritical, inconsistent and biased. Anybody that watches films can tell you this. What is so fascinating and surprising is the level of secrecy surrounding the MPAA. They act like a top-secret team of Government S...( read more)anctioned Superheroes. Infuriating secrets are revealed, such as the madness of the appeals system. As a documentary it's brilliant. It highlights the absurdity of it's subject, uses humour to good affect and actually made a difference. After the films release the MPAA allowed examples to be used in appeals. Kirby Dick gets some great interviews and even has time for some character development with his hired Private Investigator. The film is biased, but this is only because the MPAA refuse to speak to Dick. It's the uncovering of a paranoid and outdated system. One that has no idea what the hell it's doing, yet somehow manages to stay in control.
  • mjgildea
    March 11, 2009
    mjgildea
    This Film is Not Yet Rated starts off as an expose on the MPAA--a shadowy organization responsible for how movies are rated and why. The interviews with the directors and their experiences with the MPAA are interesting; as was director Kirby Dick's methods he employed to find out...( read more) who the raters are. Or were. This movie does get loony after awhile but not Who Killed the Electric Car loony. This Film is Not Yet Rated wasn't amazing but there are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.
  • DrZeek
    September 26, 2008
    DrZeek
    "We don't create standards; we just follow them"

    This is a documentary about the MPAA film ratings system. It goes into detail about how the MPAA is run very secretively and how ridiculous the whole system is. Several filmmakers are interviewed about their movies and the treatme...( read more)nt they received when having to deal with NC-17 ratings and the possibility of editing their work.

    The film also examines a number of common issues concerning the strange rules and standards the raters seem to follow, including issues such as violence not being as big of a deal as sex, homosexuality in film being treated much harsher than heterosexuality, and the subject of the raters themselves (who's identities are held secret from the public, so they don't have to face outside pressure of course).

    This film's director, Kirby Dick, also employs a PI to monitor the MPAA building and possibly learn the identities of the raters.

    The final section of the film actually deals with rating this very movie, the rating, and the appeals process (this film was released not rated).

    The documentary is very entertaining, complete with some flashy title cards and animation, as well as plenty of cut scenes are re-edited movies. Of course as a documentary, it leans towards one side of the problem, however its tough to find any sort of counter, unless your an extremely right-wing Jesus freak.

    What does matter is that the film is entertaining, and it is, as well as being a good way to see the MPAA get their ass kicked.

    Herself - Rating Board Chairperson: We don't give out that information.
  • EarthlyAlien
    September 24, 2008
    EarthlyAlien
    Everything people have been saying for years about the MPAA. A "best off" of a part of what's truly wrong with American cinema. Finally.
  • gilbertgumphrey
    March 1, 2008
    gilbertgumphrey
    For people who have a relatively extensive knowledge about the film industry, This Film Is Not Yet Rated doesn't offer too many insights or revelations. However, the movie is incredibly important for all those people who might see it and don't know all about the MPAA skull-and-b...( read more)ones society. Because the MPAA is up there with Michael Bay and Calgary Flames of my most hated things in this world, watching them get bitch-slapped by this documentary was a very theraputic and amusing experience. I wasn't taught much, and my eyes only widened in surprise to a couple of statistics or hilariously ridiculous statements made by MPAA heads. However, many people won't have this much knowledge, and I think seeing how this censorship board works will be very informative to them. The movie details the emergence of the MPAA rating board for movies, and how they have since become a major part of the film industry - good, and bad. In fact, the level of control they have over films is frightening. Being given an NC-17 (the rating higher than an R you never see), is much worse than just getting a few less people in theatre seats. Many theatres won't show NC-17 films, many video stores won't carry NC-17 films, and advertising is pretty much thrown out the window. There's a reason this rating is called the "kiss of death" among filmmakers. For years and decades, the MPAA has forced filmmakers to censor and cut and essentially completely change their films so they don't get this dreaded rating (there's also much consternation with PG-13 to R films, but it's not discussed much in this film). Basically, the MPAA has the power to destroy any film - how is this not scary for anyone with a movie camera? By showcasing this hypocrisy, and how the society disguses this horrible censorship with patriotism and a sense of duty to poor American families, director Kirby Dirk waves a big middle finger to them with this movie, and it's a valuable finger to wave. It's such a corrupt system, so ruled and dominated and bought out by the major studios, that it's impossible to get good ratings anymore. So while the movie's message is very important, the flick itself is quite flawed. While visually interesting and often very amusing, there are occasional interviews that go on a bit long and are a little dry, and the stuff involving the private detectives felt sort of like a tangent that was being taken too often. There aren't enough interviews in the film with actual filmmakers, either - they're segments, where directors such as Kevin Smith or Darren Aronofsky or Mary Harron discussing their horror stories involving the MPAA and being forced to cut their films, were by far the most interesting and enlightening parts of the movie. Aronofsky especially gets short-thrift, with only one 30 second interview in the movie, and while he presents an interesting point I'd never thought of before, I would've loved to hear his take on the MPAA's ruling of Requiem for a Dream. So that bothered me a little about the movie, as well as it's lack of a real ending - there is no closure, catharsis, or even just a closing statement; the movie simply ends, abruptly, and I wish there was more there. However, these flaws don't detract from the overall brilliance of the idea of the film, and the balls used to make it. I loved hearing other people say exactly what me and so many others have known for years - why can movies with unrelenting violence be Ok for kids, but movies with an f-word or a bit of pubic hair are banned from them? It's a ridiculous system, and this movie helps try and call a cause to act, even though that'll never happen. One thing I wish someone had mentioned in this movie, though, is how utterly useless the ratings board has become. I don't know what it's like down there in the states, but up here in Canada, if you're 13 and wanna see an R rated movie, you'll have no problem at all. I've seen five year olds in Brokeback Mountain and Rambo, for Christ sakes. The ratings are useless because they're not enforced by anyone except the MPAA, so all they do is wind up making director's destroy their vision for no good cause. Plus, in these days, what kid out there hasn't heard an f-bomb or seen a boob? Sigh. Anyways, I really recommend this movie to anyone planning on making a career in film. It'll be more of a horror movie than any Hostel flicks could be.
  • DoctorXQuinzel
    December 14, 2009
    DoctorXQuinzel
    interesting look at the MPAA
  • GreenGoblin92
    October 7, 2009
    GreenGoblin92
    Excellent documentary. It's very informative.
  • FutureMrsNeeson
    August 28, 2009
    FutureMrsNeeson
    Sounds interesting, but since it's an 'NC-17' movie I can wait... and wait.
  • fireofmidnight
    July 22, 2009
    fireofmidnight
    Average. Great detective work though and I'm quite amused that this film is NC 17
  • inkedbuggy
    July 19, 2009
    inkedbuggy
    Great inside look at dealing with the MPAA
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