What, exactly, does a movie have to do to get an "R" rating these days?

Cable networks actually can show whatever they want. They modify content in deference to advertisers. I guess the advertisers who run ads in the middle of the night on Comedy Central -- Girls Gone Wild and phone sex lines -- don't much care about offending people and would rather have the additional eyeballs.

And a huge second to the recommendation of "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," a really interesting look at the clandestine MPAA process.

 

Try watching Reservoir Dogs next to someone who is black.

 

I thought the rule was more than one fuck meant an R rating. I remember being really disappointed when neither Beavis nor Butthead dropped the f bomb in "B&B Do America."

Piggybacking BTExpress' post about profanity in Scarface: I read somewhere that Red Dawn, which was the first PG-13 movie, had more acts of violence per minute than any movie in history. Thereby proving that the question I posed in the first post is in fact timeless, or at least 25 years old.

 

The real question is what does a movie have to do to get an NC-17? There was a great column in EW a while back arguing that if Hostel 2 didn't get one, they should just admit they're hypocrites and get rid of the rating.

 

I remember hearing about that. I haven't seen Hostel 2 (or Hostel 1), but I saw Saw III, and THAT was the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. If that didn't get an NC-17, just admit that it will never be tagged to a mainstream film and go on bullying the arthouse freaks.

 

You can show all the gory dismemberments and torture you want, but if you show a penis then you'll get an NC-17.

 

How about a tortured penis?

 

Do we see the penis? Or is it implied?

Didn't Eastern Promises get an NC-17 because of the nude fight scene? I seem to remember they cut a few seconds out of it to get an R.

 

Anyone here see The Hangover?

Way too long of a dick scene in that movie.

 

Ditto for Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Kevin Bacon had a string of several films about ten years ago where he showed his bacon in every film.

 

Sideways had a full male frontal and still got the R.

 

"The Hammer" (Adam Carolla's boxing movie) is rated R because the F-bomb is dropped twice in the movie.