I remarked to an editor of mine yesterday that it was kind of nice to see that The Lake House, which opened today, was rated PG. Lately, it seems like almost every movie has enough violence or sexual innuendo to rate a PG-13 or occasionally even an R. And a lot of kids’ movies are just edgy enough to get the PG rating. But you don’t often see PG-rated movies for grown-ups.
Of the 23 weekends so far this year, the #1 movie has been PG-13 or R-rated almost every time, the sole exceptions being last week’s G-rated Cars and five earlier PG-rated films (Glory Road, Eight Below, Ice Age: The Meltdown, The Pink Panther, RV), virtually all of which were made for children or family audiences — with the possible exception of The Pink Panther, which was originally going to be a PG-13 film produced by MGM/UA, until Sony bought the studio and sent it back for re-shoots to tone things down.
Virtually all the other new films this year that have made the weekly top ten have been PG-13 or R-rated, too, except for eight PG-rated films (Hoodwinked, Nanny McPhee, Aquamarine, The Shaggy Dog, Akeelah and the Bee, Hoot, Over the Hedge, An Inconvenient Truth) and three G-rated films (Curious George, Doogal, The Wild), all of which were made for children — with the sole exception of Al Gore’s documentary on global warming.
So, I appreciate the fact that The Lake House is out there. Not cuz I think PG movies are superior. Just because I like variety.
Another new movie this week is rated PG, and I am referring, of course, to Nacho Libre. I am not really sure whether it can be said that this film was made for grown-ups. I certainly didn’t see any kids in the audience when I saw it last night. Then again, the film is directed by Jared Hess, whose last film, Napoleon Dynamite (2004), takes place in a high school. So who knows.
At any rate, suffice to say that the fact that this film is rated PG is a little unusual, not least because it stars Jack Black, an edgy musician/comedian sort who hasn’t been in a PG-rated live-action movie since his bit part in Airborne (1993). How did something so unusual come to pass? The Washington Post explains:
Jared Hess sounds like the most ordinary, average guy on planet Earth.
During a telephone conversation, the writer-director happily mentions his wife and two children and the fact that he goes to church every Sunday. The former Idaho resident also says he lives in Salt Lake City as opposed to Hollywood because “we’re really close to Idaho and near the grandparents, and it’s good to be around family.” He explains all this in the same tone he adopts when answering almost every question a reporter poses: pleasant, polite and — really, there is no better word for it — normal. . . .
Hess, a practicing Mormon, avoids the foul language that peppers so many mainstream movies, particularly comedies aimed at younger audiences. Like “Napoleon,” “Nacho” is rated PG, and, though it contains cartoonish violence, not a single dirty word is uttered.
When asked whether any Hollywood players ever ask about his faith, Hess says: “Yeah, religion comes up all the time. It’s totally cool. People have a lot of questions, and I think there are a lot of misconceptions [about Mormons] so I think it’s been good. To a lot of people, I’m the only Mormon they know.”
Mind you, just as Napoleon Dynamite said “freaking” instead of That Other Word That Begins With The Letter F, there is at least one line in Nacho Libre the humour of which hinges on the audience’s knowledge of a mildly naughty word. And the film’s approach to ecclesiastical matters is still a tad subversive, e.g. where a jealous monk who is smitten with the prettiest nun in the world sends another man away so that he can talk about “holy things” with the nun; one wonders what it would be like if Hess applied that humour in an explicitly Mormon situation.
And for what it’s worth, the MPAA says it rated the film PG for “some rough action, and crude humor including dialogue.”
What did I make of the film myself? I would be lying if I said I didn’t laugh. I would also be lying if I said I didn’t check my watch. I think the film has quite a few funny moments, but it doesn’t exactly have the momentum that you expect from a feature film. Then again, given how extremely boisterous the laughter was in certain parts of the theatre, that may be a very minor quibble to the Jack Black and Napoleon Dynamite fans of the world.
Oh, and FWIW, the photo I posted here back in November doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the final film. Was a scene deleted, or were the filmmakers just messing with us?
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