MPAA COMES TO THEIR SENSES, BLUE VALENTINE GETS THE R-RATING

What is the over/under on the MPAA going the way of the Comics Code anytime soon?

Not for a long time.

Theirs will be a de facto death, created by the increasing strength/popularity/commercial viability of distribution channels that have no regard for them, and a constantly diminishing theatrical window.

Not to be too critical of your article but to me it read as if a ruling or such had come down and we were a few years away from the ratings board being abolished. I thought I was way out of the loop.

I still remember that NC-17 movie, Henry And June, starring Um Thurman and released long ago. I watched it on VHS and thought that it was going to be some hardcore movie, but it turned out to be nothing really shocking to justify its rating. MCAA has never been very consistent with the way they issue their rating, but I'm glad Blue Valentine did not get the "death sentence" of box office bestowed upon them.

I am not so sure that we're that close to the end of arbitrary and destructive film ratings. Do you really think that the Sarah Palins of the world would let the MPAA slip into irrelevancy without a fight? If we got to a situation where virtually no films were being rated, or the ratings were widely perceived to be meaningless, I don't for one moment doubt that there would be some group of concerned "parents" at the ready to lobby for the creation of a new MPAA-like institution

Anyway, glad to see this film escaped the NC 17 rating. I'm obviously on board with the rest of you when it comes to the MPAA and the harmful effect it has on the world of cinema. I don't really know much about this film (BV), but if it's worthwhile I hope it can perhaps get a larger audience now and see some level of commercial success

My experience of going to see my first NC 17 film (CENTER OF THE WORLD) involved a scolding and a warning that "next time I better have a note from my parents"... despite being an employee of the theater. No cinema aficionado should have to put up with stuff like that. I am of the opinion that the responsibility for keeping impressionable minds away from the more adult fare should rest entirely on the parents. The studios and theater chains should not be forced to shoulder the burden of morality enforcement simply because there are crummy parents out there