MPAA Rating Being Challenged On Bullying Doc

The Weinstein Company, riding high with its Oscar wins for THE ARTIST and THE IRON LADY, has got a battle on its hands for its upcoming release of the documentary film BULLY. The film, directed by Lee Hirsch, just received an R-rating from the notoriously conservative MPAA ratings board, which will effectively limit its audience to those above 17. This also scuttles the Weinstein Company’s to screen the film in schools nationwide. The MPAA commented that it gave the restricted rating to the film because of “language”, meaning specifically curse words that teenagers would hardly blush at. Harvey Weinstein himself is now mounting a campaign to force the MPAA to soften the rating. There is also a web petition being circulated and already has met its goal of over 150,000 signatures nationwide. If the ruling is not changed, that would be a great shame because the film has the potential to expose the practice of bullying in high schools that has led to several suicides and been the subject of many news headlines. For more information on the film, visit: http://www.thebullyproject.com/

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