Movies / Movie Reviews

Kirby Dick Rabble Rouses with "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" Documentary

By Leroy Douresseaux
March 7, 2007 - 13:23

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)
Starring:  Kirby Dick, Becky Altringer, Allison Anders, David Ansen, Jamie Babbit, Maria Bello, Atom Egoyan, Stephen Farber, Mary Harron, Richard Heffner, Wayne Kramer, Jay Landers, Jon Lewis, Kimberly Peirce, Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, Michael Tucker, and John Waters
DIRECTOR:  Kirby Dick
WRITERS:  Kirby Dick & Eddie Schmidt and Matt Patterson
PRODUCER:  Eddie Schmidt
GENRE:  Documentary
RATING:  MPAA - NC-17 for some graphic sexual content (rating later surrendered)
DISTRIBUTOR: IFC Films (theatrical); Red Envelope Entertainment (video)

In his provocative documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Oscar-nominated director Kirby Dick (Twist of Faith) takes on the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).  Dick launches an investigation of this secretive film industry ratings board and powerful Washington lobbyist group.  Dick's thesis is that the MPAA's rating system is inconsistent, and he questions whether the MPAA gives the six major film studios preferential treatment in film ratings.  Dick exposes discrepancies in the how the MPAA views sex and violence - favoring violent content over sexual content, especially depictions of sex thought not to be normal.  As he reveals how the MPAA affects what films go out into the wider American culture, Dick interviews independent filmmakers who have felt the sting of the MPAA via its NC-17 rating, which effectively kills a movie's chance of a wide release to America's theatres.

Kirby Dick is a cunning filmmaker with the ability to let a subject hang or redeem himself (as seen in the Oscar-nominated Twist of Faith) with Dick only pointing the camera.  In his anti-MPAA screed, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, he takes on this infamous ratings board, and though his film makes complaints and charges against the MPAA that have been around almost as long as the organization, Dick's outrage is so fresh.  Still, when he can get someone from the MPAA to speak, he lets that person say what he or she has to say.

Dick also bolsters his case by allowing several filmmakers to tell their horror stories of dealing with the MPAA and how the board adversely affected their films:  Atom Egoyan (Where the Truth Lies), Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), Kevin Smith (Clerks, Jersey Girl), Matt Stone (Orgazmo, Team America: World Police), and John Waters (A Dirty Shame), among many.  After hearing them, you can't help but believe what they and Dick say - the MPAA is harder on indie films than films by the big mainstream studios.

During the segments of the film that deal with Dick's investigation to uncover just the identities of the secret members of the MPAA, he has a cheeky and relentless partner in private detective Becky Altringer.  When the two aren't on screen making their case against the MPAA, Dick cleverly uses archival film footage of the MPAA's longtime president and founder Jack Valenti, and in every piece of footage, Valenti comes across as a fake and a cheesy, snake oil-selling liar.  Then, Dick adds even more fuel.  Once he discovers who the members are, most, if not all, are joyless fuddy-duddies who don't care about film as art.  The MPAA may be a buffer for children, but the MPAA is an executioner of art, more likely than not simply protecting corporate entertainment product.

With his Michael Moore-like approach to documentary and investigative film, Dick does what has to be done - bring the MPAA out of the shadows and into the light.  Still, that some viewers will disagree with him is understandable.  Either way, This Film Is Not Yet Rated is fun just to watch him do his thing, and this movie is on the short, short list of best film docs of the year.

A+

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Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12