Director Mike Birbiglia doesn’t understand why the MPAA gave his new movie Don’t Think Twice an R-rating while allowing the violence-laden Suicide Squad PG-13.
“Suicide Squad has machine gun killings and bombings and got a PG-13 rating. @Dontthinkmovie gets an R because adults smoke pot. Confusing?” Birbiglia said on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the MPAA declined to comment on the matter.
Filmmaker Judd Apatow, who directed and produced “Trainwreck,” “Knocked Up,” “Funny People,” “This Is 40” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin, responded sympathetically to Birbiglia on Twitter:
“Studios own the ratings board. Violence sells so they make pot and sex the scary thing so they seem caring.”
Birbiglia responded: “That makes a lot of sense and is insane.”
Film Arcade released “Don’t Think Twice,” which currently has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to “Suicide Squad’s” 32% rating, in one New York theater on July 22-24 where it set the mark for the top per-screen gross with $92,835.
Last weekend, “Don’t Think Twice” expanded to five locations to lift the cumulative total to $266,210. The film, which deals with a troupe of improvisational comedians, stars Birbiglia, Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher and Chris Gethard.
The film premiered earlier this year at South by Southwest.