Porno gets rated, under 17's get Porno

From filmstalker, Yesterday's story that the new comedy from Kevin Smith, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, was getting an adults only NC-17 rating instead of the R that Smith was aiming for as was in his contract with the studio for making the film.

Well today we hear that the appeal to the MPAA has been successful and that the NC-17 has been lifted and an R rating granted in the U.S.

What surprises me in all this is Kevin Smith's comment about the NC-17, and it's a widely held belief within Hollywood, make an NC-17 film and it will fail.

"We didn't set out to make an NC-17 film. That's just commercial suicide…"
That's the comment he made in the Yahoo News story.

Sure that restricts anyone under seventeen from seeing it - is that really commercial suicide? The vast majority of people going to the cinema are under seventeen? Wow, that means Hollywood is missing out on an absolutely massive demographic and are failing to pull them into the cinema.

According to Smith the MPAA were pushing back on two sex scenes in particular, and in order to try and get the film through with the R rating he went through several cuts and submissions, but finally reached a stalemate with the amount of cuts he was prepared to make.

Finally he stood before them in an appeal and talked them down to the R rating. Interestingly this is the third time he's done this, the first being Clerks and the second being Jersey Girl.

"They felt it was rather sexually graphic. My point is, it was comically graphic. All the sex in the movie with the exception of one scene is very cartoonish, very campy…It wasn't designed to titillate."
Yes, but we're talking America and the MPAA, any mention of sex is enough to scare them into running down the streets screaming pillars of salt and the end of the world. Sure throw all the knives, guns and murders in a film you want, but mention or show the most natural activity in the world and you're in trouble mate.

Well the upshot is that the film has had the rating lowered and that Smith has shaved inches off Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which is actually great news for the studio too, because now they can double dip us on DVD - that means they can release the theatrical version of the film on DVD and a few months later release the Director's Cut which will include the full, uncut, NC-17 version.