What better way to celebrate this week’s twenty-year anniversary of the dreaded, unworkable NC-17 rating than by slapping it on the Ryan Gosling–Michelle Williams drama Blue Valentine? Deadline reports that the MPAA laid down the law for what’s really a rather tame sex scene, nudity-wise (there is a split-second of full-backal Gosling, and as often happens in independent films, Michelle Williams is simultaneously despairing and topless), though the Weinstein Company plans to appeal the rating. Really though, let’s be honest: This is exactly the kind of newsy jolt the downbeat drama needed, especially after its Oscar hopes were dwarfed by TWC’s major incoming push for The King’s Speech. The hard-sell Blue Valentine gets some sexy notoriety, the film gets an easy trim for an R-rating, and someday, hundreds of horny kids at Wal-Mart buy the “unrated version” and are in for a depressing surprise. [Deadline]
