I Can't Believe its PG-13! And Other Questionable MPAA Ratings

[Cevolution]

I love Nuns on the Run, hopefully it eventually gets released on blu.

Here in Australia we have more classifications ratings than the U.S, it doesn't just go straight from PG to R, we have 2 others in-between. Ours are

"G" General
"PG" Parental guidance recommended
"M" Recommended for mature audiences
"MA15+" Restricted, not suitable for people under 15. Under 15s must be accompanied by a parent or guardian
"R18+" Restricted to 18 and over

Edit: Most of the films that get rated "R17+" in the U.S, are actually rated "M" or "MA15+" in Australia, not many get given an "R" rating here. In fact out of all my 570 Australian blu-ray's I own in my collection, only the following are "R" rated. Kill Bill Volume 1, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Fight Club, Taxi Driver, Scarface, Goodfellas, Natural Born Killers, Apocalypse Now, Casino, The Hangover Extended Cut, The Running Man, Smoking Aces 1 & 2, Rambo (2008), Seven, I Spit on Your Grave (2010), Hostel 1, 2 & 3, Shoot Em Up, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in America, The Exorcist, Friday the 13th (2009), Saw 5 & 7, The Final Destination, Robocop, Mad Max, Deer Hunter and Boogie Nights. Which is only 32 titles.

[BohemianGraham]

Can I post a film that most likely should have been rated PG-13, but got R instead?



This only received an R because the F-bomb was dropped a couple times, much like The King's Speech.

[agoofykindasuperman]

Had to laugh when I seen that National Lampoon's Vacation was given an R rating in the US due to language (particularly the F word) and a brief scene of nudity, yet in Canada it's given a very clean PG rating.

[djgeneral]

I always thought in the US there should be an additional rating between PG-13 and R. I think the gap is far too big.

[hamchuck1]

Super 8 pushed the violence boundaries for PG-13. It's a fairly

[Show spoiler]bad-ass

PG-13 movie.

[P@t_Mtl]

I can't believe this thread is not PG-13

[hamchuck1]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I can't believe this thread is not PG-13

ooops sorry - I edited my last comment for content

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

I always thought in the US there should be an additional rating between PG-13 and R. I think the gap is far too big.

For an age gap of four years? Parents are cautioned about PG13 flicks, and MUST accompany their child to an R.

[jwerk]

This movie was rated PG, despite the full frontal male and female nudity.

[fatediesel]

I never thought Orgazmo deserved an NC-17 rating. It's a comedy from Trey Parker and Matt Stone about the porn industry but contains no nudity, just a lot of sexual references and profanity. It came out around the same time as Boogie Nights which features multiple nude scenes, including full frontal male and female nudity, lots of drugs, profanity, and violence, yet Boogie Nights got an R rating.

[djgeneral]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

For an age gap of four years? Parents are cautioned about PG13 flicks, and MUST accompany their child to an R.

I don't get what you are saying? 13 years and 17 years old is a generation difference between those ages. Especially since a 10 year old can see a PG-13.

There should be a PG-15 because there are many movies that were slapped with a R rating that shouldn't be much more than PG-13. If a movie uses more than 1 (sometimes 2) "F*ck" it is already R. As someone mentioned, a key recent release would be The Kings Speech. Absolutely no reason for it to be R due to 1 minor scene.

[DoubleDownAgain]

I somewhat disagree with both stances. The best thing about the current systems is that everyone knows what to expect from the current rating system, adding more rating would make it more complicated and there lines would be even blurrier.

But I do agree that comparing The King's Speech to a hard R movie it isn't even close. I'd let my 10 year old watch King Speech, she already knows the word and it does play a key part of a key scene before many of the movies rated PG-13. The ratings to me don't mean very much, just a general guide. I do like the list why a movie was rated a certain way, that is helpful at times. Blue Valentine was originally rated NC-17, and if you've seen the movie you'd find that laughable. Glad they were able to get the R rating.

On a side note, the doc 'This Movie is not yet Rated' is an interesting look at the current MPAA rating system, and points out many issues with it. An interesting watch for any movie fan.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

Can I post a film that most likely should have been rated PG-13, but got R instead?

[Show spoiler]



This only received an R because the F-bomb was dropped a couple times, much like The King's Speech.

I got another R-rated one, if it's okay to post. I notice the thread title now says "other questionable MPAA ratings."

Rated R for, what, some cursing (lots of S-words, no F-words as I recall), and some violence (not terribly graphic, just lots of people getting shot). The way I see it, it's not really all that different from myriads of other action flicks that have received a PG-13 rating. I even remember most teenagers went and saw this movie anyway when it came out. So, I've always believed it deserves a PG-13 rather than R.

Now, I can understand "Reloaded" getting the R rating for its sex scene and having more blood. I suspect the filmmakers added all that in on purpose as "fan service." But, "Revolutions" really didn't have much R-rated content either.

[/rant]

[Josh]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I got another R-rated one, if it's okay to post. I notice the thread title now says "other questionable MPAA ratings."

Yup, I editted the title so that people could discuss all questionable rating

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

1. Live Free or Die Hard: Why did they make this PG-13? Even the unrated version doesn't make it rated r.

Jerry Maguire: Rated R. Can anyone answer this?

The Dark Knight: The film had a rated R feel to to but I'm guessing they wanted it to be family-friendly by giving it a PG-13.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

Jerry Maguire: Rated R. Can anyone answer this?

Per IMDB if features the F-word 13 times. PG-13 movies are usually limited to one use of the F-word, although there are exceptions, but they'd never allow 13 uses in a PG-13 movie. The language and sexual motions in the sex scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly Preston are also too explicit for a PG-13 movie.

[ScarredLungs]

[jj5206]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

1. Live Free or Die Hard: Why did they make this PG-13? Even the unrated version doesn't make it rated r.

That wasn't the MPAA, that was Fox's decision. They wanted to cut it down to PG-13 to get more money from the teenage crowd. I think they are trying to do the same thing with Prometheus right now, which really worries me.

[AndyD]

Walk Hard: Dewey Cox story. That got a 12's rating in Ireland but for the sheer amount of dudes having their wang's on display, it should have been at least 16's.

Ireland's classification's are

G
PG
12A (Under 12's must be accompanied by an adult)
15A (Under 15's must be accompanied by an adult)
16
18

Almost everything that get's an R rating in America, usually gets a 16 or lower rating here. I guess you Americans are just too damn sensitive

I long for an over 18's film to be released. I can't even remember the last film that got an 18's certificate here.

[Trekkie313]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

1. Live Free or Die Hard: Why did they make this PG-13? Even the unrated version doesn't make it rated r.

Unrated means it wasn't submitted to the MPAA