Hey folks, Harry here. Once again it seems that the MPAA's astounding arbitrary heel clicking has bothered another filmmaker. This time James Toback, who's TWO GIRLS AND A GUY was actually a pretty damn good film even in the unrated version that I saw, is having trouble with his film BLACK AND WHITE... but below you can check it out for yourself. You be the judge...
Last year, James Toback released Two Girls and a Guy into theatres at an R rating. The notorious sex scene between Heather Graham and Robert Downey Jr. had to be edited in order to save the film from the highly restrictive NC-17 rating. It seems that Toback has become the MPAA's whipping boy...
Black and White, the story of a group of privileged white New York City high school teens who harbor a reckless fascination with uptown black hip-hop culture, is his latest film, and again had been slapped with the dreaded NC-17. One scene in particular had to be edited, in order for the film to be deemed acceptable in the eyes of our moral compass, Jack Valenti. I've included a link to a site that posts both versions of this scene, R and NC-17, in both Real Video and Quicktime formats. I, as does the film's producer, challenge you to watch both versions, and see if you can tell if the difference is substantial. One has to question exactly why this scene, which arguably is mild compared to other mainstream R releases in the past, has been censored.
