Kevin Smith's "Porno" Dodges a Ratings Bullet

Few realize just how key a film's rating is to its overall success. Thankfully, Kevin Smith does.

When the Motion Picture Association of America slapped an NC-17 rating on Smith's shiny new film, they may as well have put a curse on the project. According to the MPAA, not a single movie has been released with the rating since 2005, and it is virtually accepted that films bearing this solemn mark generally disappear into a black hole in the box office.

But fear not, Silent Bob fans, because Smith's newest movie, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, will be one for most of the family! On Tuesday, the MPAA, which had initially administered the rating for "some graphic sexuality," changed its mind after Smith and Weinstein Co. attorney Alan Friedman defended the film with what must have been some powerful statements, reported Reuters.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno will now be released under an R rating, permitting viewers under 17 years of age to see it with adult accompaniment.

"This is a great day for Kevin Smith fans and we are grateful that the MPAA's appeals board was able to overturn what we felt was an unwarranted and overly restrictive rating," Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co, said in a statement reported by Reuters.

The film stars none other than 40 Year Old Virgin costars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, and, according to Reuters, centers on the two platonically friendly roommates as they attempt to make a porn film to get rid of a hefty debt. Naturally, there is a twist, and it's not long before the two discover the emotional complications of their new line of work.

This is not the first time that Smith has disagreed with the MPAA; he did so with two of his previous films, Clerks and Jersey Girl. Both ratings were overturned on appeal.