‘Aristocrats’ brings out the strangeness

I just received an e-mail from Nathan Weinbender, an inordinately intelligent Lewis and Clark High School junior, who gave me his take on “The Aristocrats,” now showing at Spokane’s NorthTown Cinemas (he liked it). He also said that he had a problem with the theater’s staff being particularly tight about checking security for an unrated (but possibly NC-17-rated) film.

Here is what Nathan said:

The film isn’t rated at all, but I suppose the theater has the right to treat an unrated film how they would like, and even if it had been rated NC-17, that would mean “no one under 17” would be admitted. I’ve seen a number of films rated NC-17 (“Last Tango in Paris,” “Pink Flamingos,” “Man Bites Dog”) and was in no way offended by “The Aristocrats.”

Why are theater owners taking such great risks to protect us minors from seeing movies that may damage us, when half an hour of the 6 p.m. news features much more disturbing content than anything in 90 minutes of “The Aristocrats?” Considering that teenagers are the biggest audience for movies these days, doesn’t shutting them out from films significantly decrease rates of ticket sales? And doesn’t it make you question how “The Devil’s Rejects” - which featured some of the most sadistic violence this side of a snuff film - got an R and “The Aristocrats” was threatened with the MPAA’s Kiss of Death? Hmmm….

And my reaction? Nothing that the Motion Picture Association of America does surprises me. In recent years, it’s always been the case that violence has been given much more of a pass than language or even scenes of explicit sex.

But I can’t be too hard on the MPAA. The fact that AMC chairman Dick Walsh chose to pass on “The Aristocrats,” which actually takes a serious look at the power of language, but then go ahead and screen “The Devil’s Rejects” shows that theater exhibitors have their priorities screwed up, too.

What does surprise me is, one, the fact that Regal Cinemas would screen the film – especially in Spokane – but then would send their ushers out to act like storm-troopers to check ages. The MPAA’s ratings are guidelines, not laws, and no one is going to get fined for doing what they want – especially parents who allow their children to use their minds.

Below: Kevin Pollak (far left), one of the unfortunate gang members in “The Usual Suspects,” is featured in “The Aristocrats.” Pollak tells the joke while impersonating Christopher Walken.