Kevin Smith Gets an "R" Rating

Though the title may lead viewers to a different conclusion, filmmaker Kevin Smith has managed to lower the rating of his new comedy from an adults-only NC-17 to an R.

Elizabeth Kaltman, a spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association of America, said on Tuesday that the flick's rating had been revised after the group's appeals board watched the movie.

"We didn't set out to make an NC-17 film. That's just commercial suicide," Smith told the Associated Press.

The NC-17 rating would have made it difficult for teens to see the flick, as it bars anyone younger than 17 from watching the film. With the new, R-rating, teenagers under the age of 17 can watch the movie as long as an adult accompanies them.

Due out October 31, the film stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as best friends and roommates who decide to make a homemade pornographic film in order to make money and pay their bills.

Smith decided to appeal the higher rating after he found out the MPAA ratings board objected to two sex scenes involving some of the movie's costars, Jason Mewes and Katie Morgan. In order to lower the rating, the filmmaker cut out some of the material from those scenes.

Though he knew that the MPAA thought that the material was too graphic, Smith says that he sees the sexual content as "comically graphic," and that all of the explicit material in the film, except for one scene, is "very cartoonish, very campy."

He added that the title of the movie alone should ward off viewers who do not want to see anything too graphic. "Anybody not inclined to see a movie with 'Porno' in the title, is not going to see it, so it kind of regulates itself to a degree," Smith said. "And anybody who is going, is not going to be surprised by what they see."

This is the third time that Smith has managed to change the rating of one of his films, as both Clerks and Jersey Girl successfully had their MPAA ratings lowered.