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Great Documentary

This was one of the best documentaries I have seen in a long time. Informative but also entertaining, it provided an intriguing glimpse into a particularly important and mysterious world - that of US film ratings.

As both a movie lover and a one time film student, I found the subject matter extremely interesting, but I think that it would be a highly useful watch for anyone who cares about freedom of expression and tolerance. It exposes the disturbing lack of transparency inherent in the American film ratings system, and its disproportionate censorship of sex while horriffic violence (with little depicted consequence) is deemed appropriate for children to watch.

The filmmaker, Kirby Dick, and his hired private investigator are likeable and human, and their quest to find out the secrets of the MPAA genuinely enjoyable.

As a UK citizen, this film will make you glad that our own film ratings board, the BBFC, is more transparent and balanced these days than the system used by the USA. It is also particularly relevant to all those puzzled by the strange social contradictions of the 'land of the free'.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Didn't pass the so-what test

In the film I think our anti-hero, Jack Valenti, probably best summed up my feelings about any controversy surrounding the American film rating system - 'If someone makes a film others want to see, a bad rating won't hurt it; if they make a film no one wants to see, a good rating can't help it'.

The critics of the ratings system in this film complained about the secrecy/lack of transparency in the process, favoritism to large studios vs independent films, discrimination against gay society (and others), and - from directors - losing a scene or portion of a scene that they felt was so important to the film. Ironically, nowhere in the exposé do they talk about films and/or messages which should get to the viewing audience that didn't because of the process. Furthermore, the rampant success of all the above listed categories of films/film content (indie, gay [the director of Boys Don't Cry, which won 40 awards around the world including an Oscar and a BAFTA, was on her soapbox], etc) makes me question the impact (and therefore the importance) of the behaviours, even though I suspect it's all true to one degree or another.

The documentary was well-made and was entertaining enough for a lazy afternoon. All said, though, I not only failed to care about the issue by the end of the film, more importantly I failed to see who was being harmed by the process under the microscope.