Monday Morning Poll: Is a Comedy Funnier When It's Rated R?
Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Monday Morning Poll
I just spent the last half hour double-checking the MPAA ratings on my all-time favorite comedies, and I noticed the majority of them are rated R. There's been a real push over the last several years to get films down to a PG-13 rating. Two comedies that did really well this year with audiences, but not critics, were both rated PG-13 (Norbit, Wild Hogs). But let's take a look at the last several comedies that did well with both audiences and critics: Knocked Up, Wedding Crashers, Little Miss Sunshine, The 40 Year-Old Virgin -- all rated R. Around this same time last year, the teen comedy Accepted hit theaters. The film starred an up-and-coming Justin Long, and some new guy (who happened to steal the movie) named Jonah Hill. At the time, I thought it was a nice surprise for a PG-13 comedy -- although now that I know how good Superbad is (a film that stars the same Jonah Hill), I'm left wondering how much better Accepted would've been had it opted to go 'R.'
With Superbad, it's not even like the film carries a ton of nudity. In fact, Superbad is one of those extremely rare R-rated teen sex comedies that doesn't have an ounce of nudity anywhere in it. Instead, we have several references to sex, combined with more foul language than you know what to do with. But, like Jonah and Michael Cera told me during our interview, this is how kids talk. This is how real teenagers act around each other. And like with the majority of Judd Apatow's films (whether he's a producer or director), it's funny because it's relatable. I had a conversation with a friend of mine last night, and Apatow's name came up. In my opinion, Apatow and his crew have achieved in two years (on the big screen) what Kevin Smith should have 10 years ago (although when you factor in budgets versus box office, Smith's films have been very successful) -- writing raunchy, relatable material (sprinkled with pop culture references) that caters to a wide audience. It's not that Smith's stuff isn't funny (it totally is -- my friend and I talked Clerks for an hour last night), it's just that his films unfortunately never found a way to reach the mass audience Apatow has.**. But to get back on track ...
... what do you think: Is a comedy funnier when it's rated R? And, like Accepted, are there comedies that would've been funnier had they gone for the 'R' rating?
**Leave it to me to start a topic within a topic and not explain myself further. That's what happens when caffeine hasn't entered my system yet. But to further explain, what I meant to say is that Apatow and his crew stole a bit of Smith's thunder, and we should remember that Smith could probably be credited for starting this whole "relatable foul-mouthed humor" with little more than a bunch of credit cards and a unique sense of humor. Scott made some great points in his follow-up post, so head on over there to continue this discussion.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-13-2007 @ 11:18AM
Gina said...
Some of my favorite comdies are "The Odd Couple," "The Philadelphia Story," "Some Like It Hot," "Mister Roberts," "Arsenic and Old Lace," "Desk Set," "Pat and Mike," "Father Goose," and "His Girl Friday."
I don't think any of them would be improved by an R rating.
So, no.
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8-13-2007 @ 11:20AM
Gina said...
Forgot "Bringing Up Baby" -- but I don't think it would be improved by an R rating either. So it's still no. :-)
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8-13-2007 @ 11:26AM
Philpott said...
Comedy is easier when it's rated R. The best comics and comedies are the ones that can make you feel dirty for laughing when nothing dirty has been said.
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8-13-2007 @ 11:27AM
Robin said...
I say, yes. It's easier to have better material when not worrying about a rating. But Knocked Up and 40YOV are two of my favorite movies :D
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8-13-2007 @ 12:26PM
Wayne said...
Let's not forget "Old School" when mentioning recent excellent R-rated comedies.
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8-13-2007 @ 1:41PM
techstar25 said...
Let's not forget, Napoleon Dynamite, a very funny, very original comedy containing no sex, drugs, or profanity, was rated PG, and probably would have been rated G had it been released back in the '80s (when G was actually a possibility for live action flicks). My point is that the R is not a requirement for a great comedy.
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8-13-2007 @ 1:18PM
vpr611 said...
What about classics like Blazing Saddles, The Jerk, Animal House, Airplane, The Blues Brothers, Caddyshack. All rated R and are considered classics.
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8-13-2007 @ 1:43PM
King Zilch said...
It's not a zero-sum proposition; rather, it should be dictated by the material.
Superbad should be rated R because, as the two stars pointed out, that's how those characters would talk, and to have them say "fudge" instead of "fuck" would be unrealistic and distracting. But with something like, say, What About Bob, R-rated elements like language or sex wouldn't feel like a natural part of the story.
And as for Mister Roberts; that's about a bunch of sailors in World War 2; In fact, look at the amount of "salty" language from the play that was toned down for the movie. That movie would ABSOLUTELY benefit from the harder rating.
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8-13-2007 @ 2:02PM
The Playlist said...
Isn't this like asking if gum tastes better with the chewing wrapper off? Duh.
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8-13-2007 @ 2:25PM
Cian said...
For the most part this does tend to be true. But there have been some good PG-13 comedies. I don't care what anyone else says - 'Hot Rod' from the Lonely Island crew was hilarious. But highschool comedies should be R, because we're over 13 and the stuff that comes out of our mouth is always somewhat inappropriate.
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8-13-2007 @ 2:23PM
Ryan said...
R? My favorite comedies are NC-17: Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, ...Showgirls
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8-13-2007 @ 2:56PM
Scott Weinberg said...
I think it's all about what you're after. If you're making a movie about the way teens really talk (and you're shooting for both humor and accuracy) that's almost definitely got to be an R-rated movie.
If you're making a comedy about three goofy scientists who catch ghosts, there's no freakin' reason to have the raunch-mouth.
Still, few words in the English language are as funny as the F-bomb -- when it's used well.
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8-13-2007 @ 3:19PM
DB said...
A comedy can work with a G or PG rating. Consider for example the Pink Panther movies with Peter Sellers.
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8-13-2007 @ 6:37PM
Tommy said...
not to take away from your argument, but 'superbad' did have at least an ounce of nudity of it. i havent seen it in like three weeks, but i remember the scene where they watch porn to have nudity in there.
and while its not technically nudity...the penis drawing montage...
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8-13-2007 @ 11:46PM
Kevin said...
I agree with #8. It's all about what the movie is like. If you have something like 40 Year Old Virgin, which needs a lot of sex-related content, an R-rating is fitting. Personally, I think an R-rating for Accepted would have probably ruined it. It was a nice movie and did not need sex and swearing. It would have been out of place for what the movie was.
If your favourite movies are mostly R-rated, it's probably for 2 reasons:
1. R-Rated content suits your taste more. Personally, I like movies and TV which pushes the boundries of what should be said or done (South Park, for example), which is kind of a hard thing to do with PG-13.
2. Because movies which should be R and are made PG-13 lack what would make them great. (Anybody seen Live Long or Die Hard? The scene where John McClane says his Yippee Ki Yay line. Almost painful to hear it cut off like that.) If you have to cut out important content to make it PG-13, I have to emphasis the word important and say "'nuff said".
I think there's a time and place for swearing, sex, nudity, drugs and violence, and a feel good comedy about a teenage girl trying to get her dream boy to notice her is not it. Although, I wouldn't exactly call that sort of movie a great or potentially great comedy, but I don't think an R-rating would improve it. An R-rating could not have saved Wild Hogs either. (Hehe I thought it was OK, but disappointing.)
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