Has Hollywood Lost Its Mind? A Parent's Guide to Movie Ratings

The wire-thin line that separates movies rated PG and R has been crossed over so many times in both directions that industry observers are questioning whether the rating system carries any validity at all. As a movie reviewer for more than thirty years and as a watchful, caretaker parent, author Chris Hicks learned pretty quickly that Hollywood movers and shakers like to “push the envelope,” as they put it, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s a children’s film or an adult movie. It’s not just R-rated movies that are troubling. PG-13s and even PGs can also be problematic. And sometimes worse than problematic. Simply put, relying on the Motion Picture Association of America to make choices for you or your children is a mistake.

Breaking down the history of the film rating system and exploring today’s ratings confusion and quagmire, Hicks provides valuable information to help parents know how to interpret and what to expect from today’s movies.

• The more things change, the more they stay the same.
• Hollywood Censors Itself
• The MPAA and CARA respond to criticisms
• Are R ratings always deserved?
• PG-13 rapidly becomes R-Lite
• The PG rating, an endangered species
• The G Rating, on the verge of extinction
• After two decades CARA attempts to explain itself
• Filmmakers and studios — what in the world are they thinking?
• Traversing the Hollywood morass
• Hollywood still makes good movies in spite of itself
• The future of movies is not all downhill

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