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Mike Birbiglia and Judd Apatow Are Not Happy With ‘Suicide Squad’s PG-13 Rating

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D

Dalek

Member
Mike Birbiglia and Judd Apatow Are Not Happy With ‘Suicide Squad’s PG-13 Rating

Let’s get real for a second here. Yes, there should be a movie rating system that informs audiences of the basic content of a movie, allowing parents and those with certain tastes to make the proper judgment call before they pull the trigger on buying movie tickets. It’s hard to imagine any decent person thinking that MPAA ratings are a bad idea on paper.

However, there’s a big difference between a sound concept and a strong execution and the MPAA has rightfully been under fire for as long as I can remember for decisions that are, well, boneheaded at best and sinister at worst. Yelling about the MPAA is nothing new! However, comedian and filmmaker Mike Birbiglia has tossed his two cents into this ongoing cluster cuss, putting the PG-13 rating of Suicide Squad in his sights.


I saw Birbiglia’s new film, the warm and funny and sad and sweet Don’t Think Twice at SXSW earlier this year and loved it. It’s a big-hearted crowd pleaser, an honest, uplifting movie about struggling improv performers. Specifically, it’s a movie about struggling improv performers who occasionally swear and smoke pot, so the MPAA slapped it with an R-rating for “language and some drug use.” That’s a low blow for a movie that is perfectly acceptable for the 14 and over set, all of whom will be able to buy tickets to the Suicide Squad, which earned a PG-13 despite containing a large amount of violence and gunplay and deeply unpleasant material.

Birbiglia made his thoughts known on Twitter:
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WhvxuBI.png


Birbiglia isn’t bashing Suicide Squad (our own Angie Han thought it was pretty good!), but he is the latest director to expose the double standard the MPAA applies to movies. A mature comic drama with some adult moments gets locked away under a restricted rating while the incredibly violent superhero movie with a massive body count gets to be seen by pre-teens with no fuss! Of course, one is a small independent film, and the other is an expensive, glossy blockbuster that demands a larger audience to make its money. If you smell a conspiracy theory, get in line behind director Judd Apatow:
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7bhcMFO.png
 
M

mjc

Member
They're not wrong, putting sex and pot above graphic violence is a weird standard to have. You know things are super weird when you can see headshots and graphic violence on primetime TV, but not much in the way of sex.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Ya'll had the chance to pick up the pitchforks when Return of the King got a PG-13. Motherfuckers were catapulting Orc Heads left and right, everyone looked the other way.

The MPAA is broken, and until Hollywood demands change, it will continue to enforce its arbitrary guidelines of morality.
 
R

Ridley327

Member
It never ceases to amuse me that Nebraska, which has all of three swear words in it, and The Wolf of Wall Street, which has pretty much anything in it, both came out the same year and both carry R ratings. The MPAA is out of their goddamned minds.
 
Z

Zaph

Member
They're right.

In the UK Suicide Squad is a 15, same as Deadpool and most of Judd Apatow's comedies.

The American system seems far too binary.

Sho_Nuff82 said:
Ya'll had the chance to pick up the pitchforks when Return of the King got a PG-13. Motherfuckers were catapulting Orc Heads left and right, everyone looked the other way.

The MPAA is broken, and until Hollywood demands change, it will continue to enforce its arbitrary guidelines of morality.
Click to expand...

I think there's a fair case to be made about tone in that example (fantasy violence, very clear good overcoming evil). Suicide Squad is far more grey (hell, the whole vagueness of the good/bad line is the sand has been a staple of the DC films so far) and it's violence/action is more grounded. These are things which need to be taken into consideration when deciding what's acceptable for a child.

There's a good reason Suicide Squad was given a '15' in the UK when most DC/Marvel films get a 12.
 
R

Ridley327

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Ya'll had the chance to pick up the pitchforks when Return of the King got a PG-13. Motherfuckers were catapulting Orc Heads left and right, everyone looked the other way.

The MPAA is broken, and until Hollywood demands change, it will continue to enforce its arbitrary guidelines of morality.
Click to expand...

You reminded me of how taken aback I was by the level of sadistic violence was present in the second Hobbit film. Like, I think everyone was getting off on decapitating orcs in that, but it somehow got a PG-13.

The Transformers films are on a similar level for me: yeah, they're robots, but the incredible amount of detail that goes into all the destruction and dismemberment and how much the camera lingers on all the violence that they're doing to one another is really disturbing.
 
M

meltingparappa

Member
Birbiglia isn’t bashing Suicide Squad (our own Angie Han thought it was pretty good!)
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Credibility ruined.

The "This Film is Not Yet Rated" documentary made a very pervasive case that the typical ratings board is just a bunch of dopes with generally no consistency, except for socially stagnant ideas like depictions of women being sexually pleasured always garner a higher rating than the same done to a man.

Is the BBFC generally more level headed?
 
J

Jinkies

Member
A somewhat reasonable counterpoint would be that most people are much more likely to encounter drugs in their lives than they are hyperbolic acts of violence.

On a similar basis, on-screen rape can be very disturbing and offensive to many, while murders and mutilations go by without the bat of an eye. This is because the former is more relevant to a greater number of people.
 
F

Frozenprince

Banned
This is the established standard of American morality as determined by whatever ratings board there is for the last 5 or so decades.

If you wanted to change it you should be speaking out more about the hypocrisy towards violence and violent conflict we have in this country. And that's just as a start.

This is an issue rooted deeper than a ratings board.
 
D

DecoReturns

Member
There will be Blood is one of the softest R ratings I have seen. All for one, maybe two scenes.

Also apprently if the Dark knight had blood it would've gotten an R rating?

The system is all over the place
 
C

Cuburt

Member
I think the discrepancy between sex, language, and violence is baffling but violence and drug use?

Much weaker argument for hypocrisy imo.
 
L

liquidtmd

Banned
Count Dookkake said:
Yeah, the system sucks, but fight for your own rating; don't fuck with someone else's.
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I hear you but unfortunately comparisons are entirely valid to show how deeply fucked up this system is.

Headshots, violence and darkness - okie doke! Boobies and...*whisper*...a penis? THINK OF THE GODDAMN CHILDREN.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Jinkies said:
A somewhat reasonable counterpoint would be that most people are much more likely to encounter drugs in their lives than they are hyperbolic acts of violence.

On a similar basis, on-screen rape can be very disturbing and offensive to many, while murders and mutilations go by without the bat of an eye. This is because the former is more relevant to a greater number of people.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't this only be reasonable if weed were as dangerous as gunshots? Or if as many people were as adversely affected by pot usage as they were by gun violence, per capita?

American's are only okay with murder and violence in high numbers on TV because ALL OF OUR MEDIA since we were children portrays murder and violence. And we're squeamish about sex because ALL OF OUR MEDIA is squeamish about sex. We are products of our environment, no matter how much we believe we are independent thinkers. A look just across the pond shows that Europeans have opposing viewpoints of the two vices.

DecoReturns said:
There will be Blood is one of the softest R ratings I have seen. All for one, maybe two scenes.

Also apprently if the Dark knight had blood it would've gotten an R rating?

The system is all over the place
Click to expand...

Nolan mastered the gib-less violence cut. Gunshots and stab wounds galore in his Bat-films and you never actually see a single wound. A few instances of blood soaking through clothing in a tasteful way.
 
B

Blader

Member
I assume the MPAA's reasoning is that drugs and the dreaded sex and profanity are more imitable behaviors for kids than, say, absolutely anything in Suicide Squad.

The ratings tiers need to be redone. G, for instance, may as well be eliminated. What the hell even gets a G rating anymore when kids movies are routinely rated PG?
 
R

Ridley327

Member
Uhh, doesn't
the main character brutally and viscerally bash a man's head in? It may not be visually explicit but its a horrifying scene.
Click to expand...

I think the issue is that there are PG-13 films that get away with way worse depictions than what was in There Will Be Blood. Perhaps it's less an issue with There Will Be Blood getting the wrong rating (I felt like it was deserved, all things considered) and that it's those films that are getting way too much slack.
 
C

Cuburt

Member
Let's be intellectually honest and say "drug use" doesn't only include smoking pot.

Brian Singer made Charles Xavier a junkie in DoFP so there is that.
 
O

old manatee

Banned
This Film is Not Yet Rated made a compelling case that they will give a sex scene a higher rating if the woman appears to be enjoying it.
 
C

Cuburt

Member
Count Dookkake said:
Not irresponsible.

Only G is for all kids.
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well it's an interesting change in philosophy.

G is for movies kids can see without adults.

PG has some adult stuff, if you bring your kid, you do it with that knowledge.

Now people want more content they know they can just drop off their kids to watch and don't have to watch it with them and explain shit. The MPAA can do the parenting for them.
 
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