This Film Is Not Yet Rated
IFC Films | Release Date: September 1, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatEric Campos
It's vital that everyone who cares about film see this documentary. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Funny, muckraking documentary. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Kirby Dick's indispensable guerrilla attack on the film-ratings system gives Hollywood a swift, smart and hilarious kick in its institutional, hypocritical ass. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Fascinating, amusing and ultimately disturbing. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
It thoroughly eviscerates the MPAA and makes a solid case that the culture has paid the price for its censorious practices. His (Dick's) attacks are the equivalent of shooting ducks in a barrel, but these ducks had it coming. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Has a bright, dishy spirit. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A revealing, compelling, scabrous and funny look into a system characterized by through-the-looking-glass logic and Kremlin-style secrecy. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Never really addresses why aspects of the ratings don't work, proposes concrete improvements or compares the system to those in other countries. Still, picture's bracing, hilarious and out-there elements make it a landmark. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Feisty, intellectually engaging. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
In the ultimate test, Kirby submits this very documentary to the tender mercies of the MPAA. It gets slapped with an NC-17 for graphic content. He appeals. He loses -- ten votes to zip.
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Intriguing and often hilarious. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
An impassioned piece of activist filmmaking that's as persuasive and entertaining as it is disturbing. Read full review
80
SlateDana Stevens
The movie is both clever and ruthless at exposing the ratings board's inconsistencies and hypocrisy. Read full review
80
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
Remarkably entertaining. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Yet, like it or not, the MPAA ratings is a system in which we all participate – which makes this film important to see if anything is ever going to change. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Despite being a little rough around the edges (as is often the case with the work of maverick documentarians), This Film Is Not Yet Rated is more than just an angry diatribe against the MPAA. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
There is no question that the organization is a riveting subject for a film. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
While This Film Is Not Yet Rated does not suggest an alternative to the ratings board, it does expose this Tinseltown sham to some well-deserved public ridicule. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Ultimately, Dick subordinates scholarship to passion, which may be exactly what it takes to convince mainstream moviegoers that they should care about a system that shortchanges THEM when they go to the movies. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The filmmaker doesn't exactly let anyone off the hook. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Extremely amusing. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Hugely entertaining catalog of MPAA follies. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
Gets under your skin as another thought-provoking wake-up call about the power of studios and the corporations that back them. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Dick's strongest points are that these raters receive no training and are given no standards by which to judge movies. Experts in child psychology or media or social studies are not consulted. Nor are they allowed on the board. The days of counting F-words or pelvic thrusts need to end, and in the film's quieter moments, Dick makes this case compellingly. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
As the movie shows, the whole furtive business of ratings is indeed ridiculous and should be overhauled. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Any investigation into Hollywood inevitably mutates into a noir. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Unlike the object of its scathing attention, Kirby Dick's documentary about the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board is merry and bright and loads of fun. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRob Nelson
This Film Is Not Yet Rated has a refreshingly snotty sense of humor. Read full review
67
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
This Film Is Not Yet Rated performs a great service, though not especially well. Read full review
63
PremiereJared Shimizu
Raises some probing questions about the secrecy of ratings decisions in a way that entertains and educates audiences with or without agendas to protect film integrity. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
100 percent right about our corrupt and hypocritical industry-controlled movie ratings system. Being right, however, doesn't automatically make for a strong documentary. I enjoyed a lot of it. Yet fully half of what's on screen is beside its own point. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Packed with amusing graphics, animated sequences and damning testimonies, this is a landmark denunciation of Hollywood infantilisation and protectionism. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The main activity charted in the documentary is a kind of adolescent mischief, as Dick and a private investigator seek to uncover and expose the anonymous MPAA employees. Read full review
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