Well I guess you have to be Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Smith to appeal ratings against the MPAA and win. David Schwimmer (yes, that one) had no such luck trying to get his R knocked down to a PG-13 for TRUST, the story of an internet predator who lures a young girl into his trap, and how her family subsequently reacts. Hint: it involves guns.
Schwimmer maintains that the film is supposed to be a cautionary tale, and a lesson for young girls to not meet up with weirdos they find online, but how are they supposed to learn if they’re not even allowed in the theater? I suppose their overly protective parents could take them, but how many teenage girls would be caught dead in a theater with their parents these days?
The “R” is for “disturbing material involving the rape of a teen, language, sexual content and some violence.” I mean, it is kind of hard to put teenage rape in your movie, and not expect an R from the MPAA, and I’m not sure how exactly you’d cut that out, as it’s kind of a central plot point.
The movie stars Catherine Keener, Viola Davis and Clive Owen, who is not the predator, but the father. Oh man, that pedophile is DEAD!