I took Chloe to see the rated-R (!) movie “The King’s Speech” today.  She really enjoyed it.  It was fun to take her to a movie that I actually wanted to see as well.

She was by far the youngest in the theater – by at least 15 years.  I truly have no idea why the ratings board gave the movie an R rating.  Yes, there’s a scene where the king is cursing a lot as part of his speech therapy.  But it certainly wasn’t violent or malicious cursing.  In context, it was quite humorous.  No sex.  No violence.  Just a few choice curse words, some in British English dialect, that were repeated several times.

Rated R.  This prudishness of this country confounds me.  Here’s a movie that provides a unique historical perspective on England on the eve of World War II.  On the other hand, a movie like “True Grit” – and don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed that movie as well – which fairly graphically depicts several murders and the hacking off of fingers, is given a PG-13 rating.  Really?  The US ratings board must have a thing against British film, because they did the same exact thing to “Billy Elliot” a few years ago.  Rated R for profanity.  Again depriving young Americans of well-made movies resurrecting obscure moments in world history.  Drives me nuts.

In any case, I’m grateful that Chloe is now approaching an age where she and I will be able to enjoy more mature filmmaking together.  Rated R be damned.