quote:When I saw it over the weekend, the only other person in the screening room kept looking around to make sure a) I was all right and b) that we were really seeing what we were seeing.
In fact, it's hard to believe this film has an R rating. I'm told that what was cut (which apparently is too raw to describe) will be included on the DVD.
The plot: In short, a CIA-type organization hires a Broadway musical actor to pretend to be an Arab terrorist and infiltrate terrorist organizations. (In the end, the world is safe, the movie claims, thanks to brilliant acting. Ouch.)
"Team America," you see, boldly goes where no one has gone before, sending up post-9/11 terrorism, Arabs, Koreans, the CIA and liberal-minded Hollywood actors all at the same time.
quote:"Team America: World Police" received an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America after producers made several changes to the film to avoid the more restrictive NC-17 label, officials from the MPAA and distributor Paramount Pictures confirmed.
MPAA and Paramount officials declined to discuss specifics of their initial differences.
But according to the Los Angeles Times, the MPAA board and the film's producers were at odds over a scene that depicts simulated sex between the wooden marionettes.
Producer Scott Rudin told the Times that at least nine variations of the scene in question were submitted, each one progressively less explicit, before the MPAA ultimately relented and approved with an R rating.
Agreement on a rating for the film from Matt Stone and Trey Parker -- creators of the animated cable TV series "South Park" -- came just four days before the movie is slated to open for "sneak previews" in 800 theaters nationwide. The film has its official opening October 15.