This Film is Not Yet Rated is a Documentary Directed by...

This Film is Not Yet Rated is a documentary directed by Kirby Dick, and produced by Eddie Schmidt about the Motion Picture Association of America (or the MPAA) and their often-unjust rules in rating movies. The MPAA’s rating system is as follows: G and PG are the same as they are in Australia, M is called PG-13 in America, MA15+ is R, and R18+ is NC-17, the latter being the strongest rating. The difference between an R movie and an NC-17 movie can be as wide as hundreds of millions of dollars, and is factored by disparities between Hollywood and indie filmmakers, straight and gay sex, male and female sexual depictions and violent and sexual content. Little is known about the production process of This Film Is Not Yet Rated, other than it†¦show more content†¦An unrated cut was made in response to the NC-17 rating, which prevented the documentary from being publicly screened without review. Dick originally planned to get permission from the studios to use their clips from NC-17 rated films, but he discovered that studio licensing agreements would have prohibited him from using the clips to criticize the MPAA. This prompted Dick to use the clips under the fair use doctrine, which allows copyrighted clips to be used for criticism, and lead to greater interest among documentary filmmakers in fair use as a result. This Film Is Not Yet Rated premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and was given a standing ovation and subsequently received positive reviews from critics. It has an 84% â€Å"Certified Fresh† score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 117 reviews and a score of 75/100 on Metacritic based on 33 reviews, indicating â€Å"Generally favourable reviews†. Critics praised the revelations surrounding the MPAA, as well as its humour. Some critics were less receptive, calling it â€Å"smug† and criticised the documentary for its unbalanced viewpoint and a supposed lack of research. The documentary continued to draw crowds at many more festivals, including South by Screenwest and the Seattle International Film Festival, and went into theatrical release in select theatres on September