In an age when parents are increasingly concerned with smut in movies, the press somehow missed this story.
Do they not have kids?
Even when reported, the story was buried.
At the bottom of this MSNBC link, listed under “Notes from all over,” we read this:
“Clerks II” director Kevin Smith was “shocked, literally, in shock” when his slacker sequel got an R rating. Smith had fought the tougher NC-17 rating on the first film, and was prepared for a battle on this one. “The ‘questionable’ content in ‘Clerks II’ goes beyond anything we've ever presented in a film before,” he noted. “Don't know what happened in the MPAA screening that morning, and don't need to know. All I do know is that they handed us an R, without asking for a single cut. And rather than obsess over it, I just quickly [and happily] accepted the rating and moved on.”
This is the same “Clerks II” that Movie Critic Joel Siegel reportedly walked out of because it was just too disgusting.
But the MPAA decided it’s okay for kids, providing there’s an adult with them. And we (and the MPAA) all know theaters often ignore that suggestion.
Republican Congressfolks Roy Blunt and Marsha Blackburn have contacted the MPAA, and they want answers. Good luck.
One answer came late last year when the MPAA’s Dan Glickman coughed up this excuse to explain the increasing sexual references in G-rated movies: “It’s bound to be a reflection of society.”
Take no responsibility, blame all of society.