[Craig S]

I was reading Roger Ebert's latest installment of the Movie Answer Man, and saw this item:

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Q. A theater chain in downstate Illinois is promoting something called, I think, the "R Card." Here's how it works. Parents can sign a statement authorizing their under-17 children to attend R-rated movies; the children are sold a card with their photo ID on it, and can show it at the box office to get into R-rated movies without a parent or adult guardian. What do you think?

A. As it happens, I was in downstate Urbana last weekend for my Overlooked Film Festival at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and one of the guests was MPAA President Jack Valenti, architect of the ratings system. His opinion of the R Card: "Just about the worst idea I've ever heard of." My opinion? This sounds like a ploy to increase under-17 ticket sales for R-rated movies. The ratings system works on a voluntary basis because theater owners enforce it. The theater chain should not have acted without MPAA approval.

I can't believe these words are coming from my fingers, but I agree 100% with Mr. Valenti. This is a HORRIBLE idea. IMO, it's just another way for lazy parents to avoid one more of their parental responsibilities.

What really raises my hackles is that this comes two days after I watched a very brutally violent R-rated film, The Punisher, with several children in the audience. No, I'm not talking about teenagers who snuck in. I'm talking children. One father brought in 3 boys who were in the 8-10 range. Another couple brought in a boy about that age and a girl who looked to be about 6. She watched the carnage sitting on her Daddy's knee.

This film featured an entire extended family (wife, young son, grandparents, and assorted aunts, uncles & cousins) being murdered on screen, in addition to various other extremely vicious fights, beatings, maimings & killings. Although it is a "comic book" movie, all of this mayhem was presented in a fairly realistic manner. There were none of the usual cues (costumed heroes & villains, etc.) to tell viewers it's a fantasy universe. There's no way children this young should be exposed to this material.

And now, we have the brilliant plan to sell these cards, which means these youngsters will be able to see this and any other R-Rated film on their own.

Am I the only one who thinks all of this is lunacy?

[David Galindo]

I read about that in Ebert's article as well...somehow, I'm not surprised. Imagine some kid in junior high, waving his R-Card around, impressing all his friends- and having all of them clamoring to their parents to get them an R-Card as well.

I don't want to watch Kill Bill with a bunch of kids misbehavin'. I guess I have to go late at night to the movies now...

[Ted Lee]

while i can't think of any examples off the top of my head, i'm pretty sure there are some great movies that could have passed for pg-13 except for some minor offenses regarding language, drug reference, etc.

i guess, if there was a movie like that, and my child wanted to go, i probably wouldn't mind. then, this card would come in handy.

but, letting my teenager go see "texas chainsaw massacre" is just bad parenting ... period.

[Kevin Grey]

I personally don't really have a problem with it. Growing up, my local videostore would allow the parent to authorize their kid to rent R-rated movies. My dad didn't mind me watching most R-rated movies and it worked out great. There were several R-rated movies in the theater that my parents had no problems with me seeing but weren't willing to sit through because the subject didn't interest them.

It doesn't absolve total parental responsibility. The parents have to approve it in the first place. I certainly wouldn't support giving one to 8 year olds but, depending on maturity, I would consider giving it to a child of 13 or so.

[Matthew Chmiel]

In all honesty the "R" card is not a bad idea. Of course it has it's positive and it's negatives, just like anything else in the world. What the person in Ebert's column didn't mention is that the card is designed for those thirteen to sixteen in age. It's not like the theater is going to hand some eight year old a card to see R rated films without their parent.

That would also be really fucked up if a theater let an eight year old see an R rated film alone.

A positive thing about the card is that parents who believe their teenagers are mature enough to see an R rated film can go see it without the parents having to tag along. I was a mature ten year old when my mom subjected me to see Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and The Evil Dead trilogy in one night. Hell, my mom took me to R rated films all the time when I was a pre-teenager/teenager and did I misbehave or talk in the movie theater? No. Should I have been allowed to even see an R rated movie? Well, that was my mom's call and she was cool with it. And if it wasn't for American Pie, I wouldn't know about sex when I was 13.

[Note from Matthew Chmiel: And we all know that the MPAA is bullshit. I have seen numerous R rated films which should've have been PG-13 and vice versa. Now if we only had Canada's rating system. ]

But back to the topic at hand... in the past few years, I have been able to buy tickets to R-rated films because the theaters here in Vegas simply don't care. Since I've turned 17, I have only been carded when I saw Dreamcatcher, the Matrix sequels, and The Girl Next Door. Theaters don't care as long as they're making money. They'll sell a ticket to who wants one, and I'm fine with that because screw the MPAA. The MPAA isn't mandatory, remember that. Most theaters will let anybody in. ANYBODY.

And to all of you HTF members who have problems with teenagers and/or children misbehaving or talking during the movies, you really need to go to the movies on a more regular basis. Like some of those losers in the HTF 2004 Film List. Out of the hundreds of times I've been to the theaters in the past three years, the problems don't usually lie with kids (the exception to this rule is when I see family fare like Finding Nemo and The Prince and Me), it usually lies with adults.

Whenever I have seen a person answer a cell phone in the theater, it's someone in their twenties or thirties, never a teenager. Whenever I have heard a person talk during a film, it's usually an older person. Especially when I go see an indepedent film or an R rated film (AHA!). Some old couple will be sitting in the middle of the theater providing commentary on what is going on and who is saying what in the film. That or they'll be fighting with their bag of popcorn or their bag of candy (like when I saw Envy the other day... friggin' old people ).

If people want to ban the teenagers from seeing R-rated movies then I want to ban those senior citizens from going to the theater. The problem with people misbehaving at the movies doesn't lie with teenagers, it lies with everybody. Mostly people who are completely lacking and are devoid of common sense.

[Note from Matthew Chmiel: Yes, I know most people in this country lack common sense and parental skills, but we won't bring that up in this thread. ]

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IMO, it's just another way for lazy parents to avoid one more of their parental responsibilities.

I agree with you Craig and I disagree with you. What about teenagers who were like myself when I was in that age? I was a film junkie back when I was 13. Am I not allowed to see R rated movies cause a few others around my age act like schmucks when they go see a movie? Some people who are teenagers, believe it or not, do have common sense.

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Although it is a "comic book" movie, all of this mayhem was presented in a fairly realistic manner.

The Dawn of the Dead remake was more based in reality than The Punisher was, and this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed The Punisher. The violence in The Punisher was more cartoonish than realistic. It's not like the parents took their children to see American Psycho (and then that would be wrong).

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I don't want to watch Kill Bill with a bunch of kids misbehavin'. I guess I have to go late at night to the movies now...

Or go during the week because nobody ever goes to the movies during the week.

[WillG]

Yeah, I don't see much of a problem with it either. If the parents are ok with their kids seeing R rated movies, then who am I to complain.

When I was young, my local video store would not let me rent R rated films. I had to convince my mother to authorize the store to let me rent R rated movies. My mother still monitored what I rented though. She did not care about stupid slasher movies or foul mouth comedies so much. Movies with stories that revolved around sex was a bit different though. Anyway, I turned out fine. I have a brother who is 12 right now and he plays all the violent video games and watches R rated films. Over the weekend I took him with me to see "Kill Bill Vol 2" and it's no problem, he's fine as well.

Now the only flaw with the R card is that parents would not necessairly know for sure what films their kids were really seeing. But perhaps certain films could be flagged for certain content and parents could specify what is authorized and what is not.

Of course, how many kids buy tickets to one film and sneak into another anyway?

[Quentin]

First of all, I always considered ratings as advisory, not as a rule. I get annoyed when it is "enforced". I remember when I was just a pup of 11 going to see "Alien". My mom took me, but she didn't want to see it. The guy at the box office wouldn't sell her my ticket! Technically, you are SUPPOSED to be accompanied by the adult - not just allowed (this is how Valenti wants it enforced). Luckily, 2 ladies in line agreed to "accompany" me. They were great, and I dug the film.

So, I could care less about the "R" card. But, one thing does occur to me...how does the theater know who signed it?? Hell, I'd sign it myself and they wouldn't be any wiser.

[Kevin Grey]

So, I could care less about the "R" card. But, one thing does occur to me...how does the theater know who signed it?? Hell, I'd sign it myself and they wouldn't be any wiser.

I would expect that the parent would have to be present for the initial signing.

First of all, I always considered ratings as advisory, not as a rule. I get annoyed when it is "enforced". I remember when I was just a pup of 11 going to see "Alien". My mom took me, but she didn't want to see it.

This was always my problem growing up. My dad just wasn't interested in the action/horror films I was and didn't want to sit through them. He took me to see "Die Hard 2" and tried to buy a ticket for himself for "Wild at Heart." The ticket seller informed him that he would have to see DH2 with me. Of course, he ended up walking into "Wild at Heart" anyway and "Die Hard 2" ended up with an extra ticket sold.

course, how many kids buy tickets to one film and sneak into another anyway?

I know I did that several times but it backfired on me once. A bunch of friends and I were going to see "Return of the Living Dead 2" and were planning on just buying a ticket to a PG or PG-13 movie playing at the theater. It turns out that the only non R-rated movie playing at the theater was a re-release of Cinderella that had started 30 minutes previously! Not believing that a group of 13 year old boys could possibly be interested in seeing an almost halfway over Cinderella, we were watched like a hawk going to the auditorium. We had no choice but to go ahead into Cinderella. We lasted all of five minutes in the theater before giving up and heading out the emergency exit.

[Morgan Jolley]

This won't work for many reasons. "R" ratings can involve a LOT, whether its the violence of Kill Bill, the cursing of Scarface, or the nude lesbian sex scene of Mulholland Dr. I think the best idea is to leave the system as it is.

Besides, I work at a theater, and the best thing in the world is kicking out minors and then not giving them refunds.

[Matthew Chmiel]

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This won't work for many reasons. "R" ratings can involve a LOT, whether its the violence of Kill Bill, the cursing of Scarface, or the nude lesbian sex scene of Mulholland Dr. I think the best idea is to leave the system as it is.

Now if only a movie would combine the violence of Kill Bill, the cursing of Scarface, and the lesbian sex scene (and technically, it's just two women naked in bed fondling each other) of Mulholland Drive. Now that movie would make millions. But also, "R" ratings can also be a lot of lighter films. Does a film like Almost Famous deserve an R? No.

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Besides, I work at a theater, and the best thing in the world is kicking out minors and then not giving them refunds.

If I ever have a son and if you ever have a son, and your son does that to my son, Im going to kick your ass.