Why is the movie “Zach and Miri Make a Porno” rated R and not NC-17?
Kevin Smith’s new ‘Porno’ challenges NC-17 rating With only a couple of weeks until Halloween, moviegoers can expect to be inundated with a slew of horror films, all depicting varying levels of terror, gore and gruesome violence. Yet, all of these cringe-worthy films manage to elicit an “R” rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), whereas one movie scheduled for release this Halloween, Kevin Smith’s “Zach and Miri Make a Porno,” was almost given an NC-17 rating due to the frank sexual nature of the film. The NC-17 rating is a kiss of death for filmmakers, as few video stores, advertisers or theaters will touch a movie with an NC-17 rating. Smith has a long history of being a controversial filmmaker, ranging from the blasphemous humor of “Dogma” to the simply profane humor of “Clerks,” “Mallrats” and “Chasing Amy.” This history of toeing the line, along with other acts of general idiocy—including joining a picket line to protest his own movie and starting confrontat
