Kirby Dick's documentary about the American movie ratings system is a sharp recital of the common complaints against it: It judges sex more harshly than violence (a striking contrast to the ratings systems in most other countries); it is particularly unhappy with depictions of female sexual pleasure, or of homosexuality; and according to several directors, it judges independent films more harshly than those produced by the major studios.
Several directors are on hand to talk about their experiences with the ratings board. Matt Stone discusses the different experiences he had with his independent film Orgazmo, where the board refused to answer his questions about what cuts he might make to get an R rating instead of an NC-17 (because to ask for specific cuts, the board said, would put them in a position of actively censoring his movie), and with his South Park movie, a studio project, where the board was happy to offer recommendations of specific cuts.
Kimberley Pierce and Jamie Babbitt compare the NC-17 ratings their films received for depictions of female sexuality with the R ratings that similar scenes involving men had been given. Dick himself offers a telling montage of side-by-side sex scenes from NC-17 and R movies, virtually identical except that the NC-17 scenes involve same-sex couples.
Film critics David Ansen and Stephen Farber (himself a former member of the ratings board) provide historical perspective on the ratings system; Lawrence Lessig, a specialist in intellectual property law, offers a legal view.
The identities of the ratings board members are kept secret, ostensibly to protect them from pressure. Dick hires a team of private investigators to track down the raters, and this is the least interesting part of the movie. We spend far too much time watching his team sit in their SUV and jot down license plate numbers.
The best part of the movie is the last 20 minutes, in which Dick submits this very documentary to the board for a rating; it gets -- no surprise -- an NC-17 because of all the explicit clips from other movies that are included. We follow Dick through the appeals process, which involves a separate (also secret) board, this one made up of studio executives, theater owners, and (creepiest of all) representatives from the Catholic and Episcopal churches. John Waters talks about his appeals experience with the movie A Dirty Shame, and he's delightful to listen to as he narrates his absurd adventures.
Aside from the wasted time spent with the private investigators, this is a very funny indictment of a broken system. If there's a flaw, it's that neither Dick nor any of his subjects offer any suggestions as to how the system might be improved, or what might replace it.
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