Filmmaker Kimberly Pierce discusses her experiences with the MPAA in the film "This Film Is Not Yet Rated."

Caught this documentary last night about how movies are rated, and while I always knew the process was a little bit fascist, I didn't know how much. In short, this is a movie I highly recommend to everyone. I caught it on IFC, and it was really entertaining. It was the kind of movie Michael Moore could make if he wasn't so busy being a smarmy jackass and trying to get himself publicity all the time.

Filmmaker Kirby Dick definitely goes the Moore route, discussing the secretive film rating process, whereby films are given those tags G, PG, PG-13, R, or NC-17. Dick discusses how the MPAA, which controls the ratings system (it's not a government system), tends to discriminate against independents.

The NC-17 rating, of course, is the kiss of death for most films, as it all but ensures you will not get wide distribution, cannot advertise the film, and stores such as Blockbuster and Wal-Mart will not stock or sell your film.

In one segment, Matt Stone of "South Park" fame discusses how when he and Trey Parker got an NC-17 rating for their independent film "Orgazmo," they were not given any instructions on how to get an R rating. When they asked, they were simply told to recut their film. However, when they made the "South Park" film with Paramount, they also got an NC-17, but were told exactly what cuts to make and provided detailed notes on how to get an R rating.

The film also deals with the MPAA's insistence on secrecy regarding the raters themselves. Longtime MPAA president (the late) Jack Valenti for years insisted that raters were parents of young children who only served for 5 to 7 years, but never revealed who the raters were in order to protect them from scrutiny.

So Dick hired a private investigator to find out who the raters were, and the truth is that most of the raters have been rating for 9 years or more, have grown children, and are really have no accountability for their ratings whatsoever...except to the studios that hired them.

The film really hits its peak when Dick turns in his film, the film we're watching, to the raters. He of course has a variety of sexually explicit clips in the documentary, all from other films and all illustrating what he sees as the gross hypocrisy of the ratings system, as well as outing the MPAA raters. What rating do you think he got?

That's right, NC-17. When he appealed, the shenanigans got even more ridiculous.

Overall "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" is an absolute must for movie fans and those who wonder why it's considered more harmful for someone to see two people having sex than it is to see someone murdering scores of people.