Suicide Squad: Mike Birbiglia and Judd Apatow call out MPAA over film's rating
'Suicide Squad has machine gun killings and bombings... Don’t Think Twice gets an R because adults smoke pot'
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Your support makes all the difference.Earlier this year, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) certified the film Suicide Squad as PG-13 despite “sustained threat” and “moderate violence”, two points noted by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) when certifying the film 15.
The lower US rating has led to one outraged director, Mike Birbiglia, to question the MPAA after they gave his upcoming comedy, Don’t Think Twice, an R-Rating.
“Suicide Squad has machine gun killings and bombings and got a PG-13 rating,” he wrote on Twitter. “Don’t Think Twice gets an R because adults smoke pot. Confusing?”
In a now-deleted follow-up message on the social media platform, he said: “F**k the MPAA”.
A spokesperson for the MPAA declined to speak to Variety on the matter, while other directors, including Trainwreck’s Judd Apatow, offered up sympathetic words for Birbiglia.
“Studios own the ratings board,” Apatow wrote on Twitter. “Violence sells so they make pot and sex the scary thing so they seem caring.” Birbiglia replied: “That makes a lot of sense and is insane.”
Suicide Squad opens this weekend in the US and UK and has been met with relatively negative reviews by critics.
Don’t Think Twice was released earlier this year to limited cinemas in the US and currently holds a 100% Rotten Tomato score.
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