FROM EONLINE

Orgazmo" Gets Raunchy Rating by Bridget Byrne October 7, 1998, 5:20 p.m. PT

In an era where oral sex is dinner-table conversation, and a man with a strap-on, er, organ appeared live on the Today Show last week, what can possibly be unsuitable for family consumption?

Meet Orgazmo. The sci-fi comedy spoof of the porn industry, written, directed and starring Trey Parker, cocreator of the fecal-friendly South Park has been slapped with an NC-17, the toughest possible rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, despite a last-ditch appeal from the producers, October Films.

Such a rating--which denies access to most of the young audience that finds Parker's worldview funny--is considered box-office poison.

The movie, taglined "Making Sex Safe Again!", stars Parker (post the lowball loser flick BASEketball) as a crusading Mormon who suits up in a codpieced catsuit to become Orgazmo--a heroic crime fighter armed with a ray gun that has special erotic powers.

After learning that film had received a preliminary NC-17, the filmmakers appealed the decision in attempt to get a more audience-friendly rating. But on Wednesday, word came down that the motion was rejected. "We are disappointed," October said in a statement, but "[w]e are moving ahead with our release on October 23 as planned."

Still, Parker fans are reportedly indignant that his latest work is considered grosser than the current bad-taste hit There's Something About Mary, which only received an R rating and has racked up over $150 million in ticket sales.

With a large chunk of his core kiddie audience effectively blocked from seeing Orgazmo, Parker must hope favorable reviews and curiosity will sell the tickets. (The industry magazine Boxoffice gave the flick four and a half stars out of five, while describing it as "a winning example of a dying movie art form: the cheekily offensive 'midnight movie' comedy, mounted with flair, style and panache.")

Other notable films that have earned a NC-17, considered today's version of the notorious X, include The Bad Lieutenant, starring an oft-naked, always foul-mouthed Harvey Keitel, John Waters' deliberate exercise in poor taste Pink Flamingos, the trashed and trashy Showgirls and The Pillow Book, starring an also oft-naked Ewan McGregor.

LA TIMES

Thursday, October 8 1998 'Orgazmo' Stuck With NC-17 Rating by Amy Wallace, Times Staff Writer

October Films lost its bid this week to overturn an NC-17 rating on Trey Parker's upcoming film "Orgazmo," and attorney Alan Dershowitz--who was retained by October--thinks that makes no sense.

"The thing about 'Orgazmo' is it's adolescent humor. Therefore, adolescents should be able to see it," Dershowitz said of the comedy about a young Mormon man who stumbles into the lead role in a porno film that becomes a big hit. "I believe strongly that this is a film which is not appropriately rated NC-17, which denies me as a parent the right to take my 16-year-old."

"Orgazmo," which is directed by Parker, one of the creators of the TV series "South Park," opens Oct. 23. October Films said it will release the film in its original form regardless of the rating.

Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor and well-known media commentator, aided distributor October in its appeal to the Motion Picture Assn. of America. He said Wednesday that he generally supports the MPAA's rating system, which advises parents about which movies are appropriate for children. But he said the NC-17 rating, which flatly prohibits teenagers under the age of 17 from a movie, is troublesome.

"It's the only one that doesn't fit the theory that ratings are for parental guidance . . . [and] that really in effect imposes some kind of censorship," he said. "The MPAA doesn't seem to take into account changing mores. Post-Monica [Lewinsky], everyone is talking about oral sex. My 8-year-old daughter knows what's going on. Even if 'Orgazmo' were NC-17 a year ago, which I don't think it was, it's not anymore."

John Schmidt, co-president of October Films, agreed.

"You can buy the Starr report down at Barnes & Noble and find passages that are as raunchy as what our young superhero is doing in our film," said Schmidt, who said October plans to release Parker's original cut of the film "regardless of the very serious economic impact" of the NC-17 rating.

Nowadays, many theaters will not exhibit films that carry the NC-17 rating, and major newspapers will not carry ads for such movies.

October Films has had bad luck recently with the ratings board. After writer-director Todd Solondz's controversial film "Happiness," a study of suburban dysfunction that deals with issues of child molestation, received an NC-17 earlier this year, the company abandoned its plans to release it. It will be released by Good Machine.

Under MPAA policy, members of the ratings and appellate boards do not discuss or defend the reasons for their decisions about particular films.

But that doesn't keep their critics quiet. Last year, James Toback received an NC-17 on his film "Two Girls and a Guy." He eventually succeeded in whittling the sex scenes down sufficiently to win an R, but he grumbled about it. "You don't have movies made about sex," he said at the time. "Not that every movie should be that. But should no movie be that?"

Dershowitz, meanwhile, calls "Kafkaesque" the MPAA rating board's refusal to reveal exactly which elements of a film it finds offensive.

"They won't tell you what has to be cut to get an R rating, and not telling is the worst form of censorship because what happens then is you cut things that don't have to be cut," he said.

He compared the humor in the film to this summer's breakout hit "There's Something About Mary," noting: "I think this labeling misleads. If a person goes to this movie expecting an NC-17, he or she will be very disappointed."

FROM MR. SHOWBIZ

Orgazmo Can't Shake NC-17

What's the world coming to when a film about a young Mormon who inadvertently becomes a major porn star can't land an R rating. Orgazmo, the upcoming flick from South Park co-creator Trey Parker, will be released with the kiss-of-death NC-17 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. This week, the MPAA rejected a bid by October Films to lower the rating to a more family-friendly R.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, October reportedly still plans to release 100 prints of the film in 30 markets on Oct. 23, "regardless of the very serious economic impact" of the rating. The company originally planned to distribute 400 to 500 prints of the film., says the trade.
Attorney Alan Dershowitz, who was hired by October to help with the appeal, believes the ratings board acted wrongly by handing out the NC-17, which excludes anyone under the age of 17 from seeing the flick. "The thing about Orgazmo is its adolescent humor," Dershowitz tells the Los Angeles Times. "Therefore adolescents should be able to see it."

While the film received the NC-17 for "explicit sexual content and dialogue," Dershowitz tells the Times that it's very much in the same humor vein as this summer's hit comedy There's Something About Mary. Box Office magazine recently gave the film 4 and a half stars (out of 5), describing it as "a winning example of a dying movie art form: the cheekily offensive 'midnight movie' comedy, mounted with flair, style and panache." The mag adds that "has a decent shot at breakout success."
Dershowitz tells the paper that the country's rapidly changing social landscape makes the rating even more curious: "Post-Monica Lewinsky, everyone is talking about oral sex. My 8-year-old daughter knows what's going on. Even if Orgazmo were NC-17 a year ago, which I don't think it was, it's not anymore."

This isn't October's first run-in with the ratings board this year. Todd Solondz's critically acclaimed Happiness, which features a subplot dealing with pedophilia, was also slapped with the NC-17 rating, and the company dropped the pic from its release slate.

Says Dershowitz of Orgazmo, "I think this labeling misleads. If a person goes to this movie expecting an NC-17, he or she will be very disappointed.