MPAA Upholds NC-17 Rating for ‘Killer Joe’

The MPAA is becoming quite fond of this NC-17 rating as of late; first they uphold the rating on the Weinstein's awareness doc 'Bully,' and now they refuse to overturn their initial rating of the latest William Friedkin film, 'Killer Joe.'

After hearing an appeal from LD Entertainment's David Dinerstein and screenwriter/Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts, Entertainment Weekly reports that the board upheld its initial rating, due to “graphic aberrant content involving violence and sexuality, and a scene of brutality."

'Killer Joe' premiered in Toronto last year and recently had a one-off screening at the SXSW film festival. The film stars Matthew McConaughey as a cop by day, hitman  by night.

The good news is this: The more the MPAA cavalierly tosses around the dreaded NC-17 rating, the more they lessen the impact of said rating. And since this is a film more likely to play art house cinemas, the people (like you or I) who will be drawn to it won't be deterred by the rating because we have intellect and something called "good taste" -- a trait the MPAA is clearly lacking.

The bad news: most theaters still refuse to play NC-17 rated films, and films with this rating cannot be widely advertised. If you're a cineaste living in a town where your only theater option is AMC, it's going to be a long time before you can see this movie.