Rated R

The movie rating system is broken. Over the past few days, this has been weighing on my mind, mainly because so many people really rely on the movie ratings to decide whether to go see a film or not, especially members of the Church.

This bothers me.

And not only because people could be missing out on a great film due to an unjust rating. When a person uses the movie rating system as their main criteria on whether they should watch a movie, they essentially allow someone else to decide whether they should watch a movie. They don't really decide for themselves.

You have to realize every movie that is rated by the MPAA is rated by a panel and it is NOT a unanimous decision, it is a majority vote. This means that the PG-13 movie you are watching could very well have had 3 votes saying R, and 4 votes saying PG-13.

Also in deciding what rating a movie should receive, there is no set criteria. Many assume that if there any more than two F-words and it will get an R-rating. Or that if the F-word is used sexually it will automatically get an R-rating.

WRONG. I could give you a rather long list of PG-13 movies that have more than two F-bombs in it and even more that use it in a sexual manner. In fact, I could name a few PG movies that have the F-word in them.

Nothing bothers me more than when someone walks out of the theater and says, "That movie should have been rated R." Which I heard a lot of people say after watching The Dark Knight.

My response to that statement is, "No, YOU should have done your research before hand, and decided whether that movie adheres to your standards, rather than assuming that because it was PG-13 it would be okay."

Don't ever put your standards in the hands of others.

Now I'm not advocating going out and watching everything an anything to make an informed decision. And I'm not saying ignore the rating system completely, because it is a great starting point. But go out and research the movie before hand. With the Internet these days, we have the tools to go out and properly know what is in a movie beforehand (like this site.)

Don't just go out and see any PG-13 rated movie just because it's not R-rated. And don't write of an R-rated movie just because it's rated R, you might be missing out on something great because a few random people on a committee decided there was just too much violence or drug references in the movie.

Here are some R-rated movies that probably didn't deserve their rating.


Brick - This movie isn't very well known but it is a wonderful independent movie. There is almost no swearing in the entire movie, and very little violence, and no sex. It got it's R-rating because the movie talks about drugs. It doesn't show any actual drug use, and it's references are nothing more than what you would see on prime-time television.

The Matrix - This one is pretty well known for being unjustly rated. There is very little swearing, or sex, and the violence is no worse than what is on television. One rumor that has floated around is that it got it's rating due to the scene where they storm the building in black trench coats, but that's only a rumor.

The Ghost and the Darkness - This is another movie with very little swearing and sex, but has a couple violent lion attack scenes, but again is nothing worse than what you would see on network television. In fact I'm pretty sure I've seen crazier more violent stuff on CSI.







3:10 to Yuma - Another really good movie. Much like the previous films, the movie has very little language at least no more than what is in a PG-13 movie, but got it's R-rating for violence that would go unedited on television.




Slumdog Millionaire - This is a movie that I really fear many won't see because of the rating. It's an amazing movie, and will probably get a post of it's own just because of how it affected me. But in the movie, there is again very little sex and swearing, and while the rating says it's because of graphic violent images, the violence is no more graphic than network television. It's a fantastic movie and I'll talk about it more when I go see it again.

In the end, be your own judge, inform yourself. No one knows your standards better than you. Take heed of what the For Strength of Youth Pamphlet now tells us, "You have the gift of the Holy Ghost, which will give you strength and help you make good choices."