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Kevin Smith is no stranger to the mysteries and frustrations of the MPAA rating process. He’s clashed with the anonymous ratings board on previous films. His experience with his latest film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno didn’t start off well. First the MPAA objected to an internet-only teaser trailer and made him take it down (though of course it’s here on PCWEI, and it never went down. Take THAT faceless film fascists!). Then they gave his first submission of the film an NC-17 rating. And his second submission. At that point he had cut the film to the bone. Unfortunately he’s contractually obligated to deliver an R rated movie, so his only remaining hope was an appeal of the rating.
So he appealed. And he won. This is actually the third time he’s won — he got Clerks from an NC-17 to an R and Jersey Girl form R to PG-13. For winning he gets to keep the two scenes that caused the original NC-17. One involving “thrusting” and another involving “unspeakable acts”. Yep, that sounds like a Kevin Smith movie. And we wouldn’t want it any other way…
Congrats Kevin on fighting the law and actually winning.
via Yahoo
4 comments
August 6, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Gareth
Yikes. Just watched the trailer. Kevin Smith 4 teh suck.
August 6, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Sean
He’s a bit of a polarizing figure. I, for one, could watch Clerks or Mallrats over and over. And I even liked Jersey Girl. So I guess I’m an easy target…
August 7, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Gareth
I’m a fool for Chasing Amy, and I’ve been known to enjoy Clerks, and even on occasion Clerks 2; but for the rest – he seems like a director too defensive to learn from his mistakes, and too cloistered to experiment outside his comfort zone.
There’s a ‘Mumblecore’ season on cable over here at the moment, and while Chasing Amy probably doesn’t exactly fit into that category, it’s a wonderfully fresh and sympathetic look at relationships, with some brilliant jokes (the easter bunny, father christmas and warm fuzzy lesbian bit springs to mind). So much more interesting than the whole tired Jay and Silent Bob routine. This trailer struck me in the same way – smug, visually flat, unfunny.
There’s a very funny clip of Smith at some convention, hilariously tearing down a fan whose asks him when he’s going to stop remaking the same films. At heart he’s a really funny guy, but my intuition is he stopped making an effort to make good films years ago, and is satisfied employing a stable of actor friends, and serving a dwindling view askew fanbase. In the end he shamed the sarky fan, but he never answered the question.
August 7, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Sean
That may be the most reasoned, well-thought-out, comment in the history of the internet…
Of course it’s totally wrong
No, seriously, I see what you’re saying. For me though the Kevin Smith routine has changed enough over the years to keep me locked in. It hasn’t change a lot. Just enough.
A quick note: the “trailer” for Zack and Miri isn’t a traditional trailer per se. It doesn’t contain any footage from the actual film. It’s more of a short film to promote the movie. So while it was definitely visually flat, that doesn’t necessarily mean the movie will be. Though I would imagine if you found it smug and unfunny, you’re probably not going to like the movie either.