Tag Archives: film ratings

An R-rated Christmas movie? Really?

I just witnessed a TV trailer for a film the announcer called a “Christmas comedy.”

It’s titled “Father Figures.” Then I was jolted a bit when I saw the text on the TV screen that told me the film is R-rated. That’s one step removed from NC-17, which used to be called “X-rated.”

I asked my wife, “Isn’t it a bit ironic for a Christmas movie to be rated R?” She believes as I do. Yes. It is ironic, indeed.

It’s also a bit weird.

I remember watching “The King’s Speech,” the Oscar-winning film that depicted Britain’s King George VI — portrayed by Colin Firth — struggling to cope with a debilitating stutter. That film was R-rated, too. As I watched the film, I kept wondering, why is this film R-rated?

Then came this scene in which the king started blurting out a stream-of-conscience rapid-fire barrage of “F-bombs” as he sought to cure himself of the stammer. Right there. That’s it. That scene turned “The King’s Speech” into an R-rated masterpiece. It was hilarious to boot!

How, though, do filmmakers turn a Christmas movie into an R-rated piece of art? Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen “Die Hard,” which some folks consider a Christmas movie as well. NYPD Officer John McClane blurts out an F-bomb or two in that one, too. I don’t know that promos called it a “Christmas movie” at the time of its release.

This one, “Father Figures,” puzzles me. I don’t know how a “Christmas movie” — released during this holy holiday — can carry an R rating. Someone help me understand.