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LOS ANGELES — The Classification and Rating Appeals Board today overturned the NC-17 rating given to the movie “Blue Valentine.” The Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) had assigned the movie the NC-17 rating for “a scene of explicit sexual content.” The film is now rated R, on appeal, for “strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating.”
In the appeal brought by the Weinstein Company, the Appeals Board heard statements on behalf of “Blue Valentine” from Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman of the Weinstein Company, and Alan Friedman, Counsel to the Weinstein Company. The Classification and Rating Administration was represented by Chairman Joan Graves.
# # #
About the Appeals process:
The Classification and Rating Appeals Board is made up of members of the industry knowledgeable about the distribution and exhibition of motion pictures and whose sole mission is to maintain the integrity of the voluntary ratings system. A successful appeal requires a decisive two-thirds majority affirming that the rating is “clearly erroneous.” The overriding objective of the appeals process is to ensure that the rating system remains consistent and therefore credible. The Board reviews 800-900 films each year. Usually fewer than a dozen ratings a year are appealed.
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Congrats Harvey–and to Derek Cianfrance, Michelle and Ryan for sticking to their guns. Good show.
“sticking to their guns”…? As opposed to what?
Go Harvey and Derek. This is by far the best film of the year, blew me away. And absolutely didn’t deserve the NC-17 rating. So glad more people will get to see it now!!!
Hell yeah! Thank you, Harvey!
I’m actually in the minority that thinks the film should have kept it’s NC-17 rating. I saw the film last month at the Starz Denver Film Festival and even though it had some great performances and script, the sex scenes were definitley a little graphic and uncomfortable. the whole point of an NC-17 rating is to make sure kids don’t see the film and this is one case where the sex and fighting is so realistic they just wouldn’t understant it. still good news for it’s oscar chances (which are a sure thing at this point)
“the whole point of an NC-17 rating is to make sure kids don’t see the film”
um … isn’t that the point of the rating ‘R’?
is it harder to sneak into an NC-17 than an R and if it is, is that only because the NC-17 is forced to play in so many less rooms?
last … “the whole point of an NC-17 rating is to make sure kids don’t see the film” … um, isn’t that the job of the PARENT ??
sorry, but that sentence just stands out as sophistry.
If you know how to read Variety without needing a thesaurus for words like “Mouse House” or “topper” or “shingle” then you would know that the NC-17 rating protects no-one as it is an obsolete refresh of the old XXX rating (porn no longer plays in major theaters) and the marketing implications of an NC-17 rating are horrific for distribution (think going from 3000 screens to 30). The soccer moms and priest who make up the ratings board like to use NC-17 for anything that flares up their rosacea.
You sound like a happy Daddy from one of the flyovers. How did you get to this ol’ blog?
Elitist much?
SPOILER ALERT! “and a beating”…
Matt get a hug for making me laugh. *Hug*
Matt, you just ruined the whole film for me. lol
BUT WHAT OF THE CHILDREN!?
harvey has made a mockery out of a mockery. well done and if you have not seen the documentary on the mpaa it is mandatory.
Just watched last night. Phenomenal, actually. The ratings change is appropriate. But once again proves that maybe someone like Weinstein or industry pressure can change a rating – which means the “rating system” is completely broken. If it can be changed “after review” then it means there is no real standard at all.. at some point, it just needs to be scrapped. “R” is appropriate here; meanwhile I wish crap like “Saw” had just an X (or NC-17).. but that’s me..
Kids as young as8 or 9 probably stumble upon graphic porn on the internet quite frequently, so something like a sex scene in Blue Valentine wouldn’t phase them a bit.
Young people are different now – sex is something they read and watch from a very young age.
Violence,for lack of a better term, is good.
Sex is bad.
So swings the moral compass of MPAA’s CARA.
“Blue Valentine” rated an NC-17( the old “XXX”) for portraying (non-nude) a woman’s expression of sexual joy.
Whereas anti-social, without-a-single-socially-redeeming value garbage such as the “Saw” series, “Hostel”, “Chainsaw” series, and EVERY action “hero”/cop/spy/war/ cinematic effluent rates a mere “R” for portraying graphic torture, rape, and killings of every imaginable variety.
CARA’s message to teenagers and the 18-34 crowd who are the prime movie target demo:
You are forbidden to watch a woman enjoying oral sex.
However, you are encouraged to watch a woman being tortured, terrorized, and chain-sawed. Oh, and don’t forget to buy a big box of popcorn to munch on. Makes watching women scream for their lives so much more entertaining.
CARA only changed “Blue Valentine’s” rating to “R” because they gave “Black Swan” an “R” for the same sex act, and the board got itself trapped in a logical box.
CARA’s Rules:
1-Violent death merits a tepid “warning”-”R”:
2-Sexual passion honestly and non-graphically portrayed merits an “NC-17? or “XXX”:
Violence is the bread & butter of American cinema. CARA will never rate violence as severely as sex.
Gordon Gekko got it half right.
Greed in all of its glorious forms may be the engine of society.
But in Hollywood, it’s greed + violence. CARA’s mission is to see to it that young people applaud violence and shun sensual passion.
In CARA’s eyes, “Blue Valentine” committed the most heinous crime imaginable: A “crime” of passion.
Had its oral sex scene portrayed, instead, the guy beating her face to a pulp, a la “The Killer Inside Me”, CARA would have blessed it with a delicious and inviting “R”.
Big Brother said “War is Peace”.
With CARA’s rating system, Big Brother’s gone Hollywood:
“Violence is Peace”
“Lovemaking is Violence”
THANK YOU! You said so perfectly what I was thinking. Violence is perfectly acceptable to watch in our culture (include violence again women), oral sex is not acceptable. How does this make sense?
The US should adopt the UKs rating system it makes so much more sense, I don’t understand the point of the R rating and the stigma attached to the NC17 is very odd.
UK is U(=G), PG, 12 A(=PG13), 15, 18 and that’s it. There is no stigma if a film gets an 18 cert it just means its a films for over 18s. The R rating means something harmless like American Pie gets the same rating as Saw – mind boggling!