On DVD

THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, directed by Kirby Dick, 97 minutes, rated NC-17.

Kirby Dick’s documentary, “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” takes on the Motion Picture Association of America, exposes its inherent weirdness, secretiveness and hypocrisies, and has a good time doing so.

Perhaps too much of a good time.

Throughout, the movie weaves in and out of focus, with Dick veering in directions that detract from his point – the MPAA, which Jack Valenti created in 1968 and has since been responsible for rating most of the movies we see, is a broken system composed of a mysterious group of parents who are unqualified for the job.

For anyone who has ever questioned the inconsistencies inherent in movie ratings (and why not when they’re so blatant?), this is a tempting subject to explore, so the good news is that when the movie does stay on track, it asks the right questions.

Dick believes the American public deserves to know those whose moral judgments directly influence what comes (or what doesn’t come) to a theater near you. He believes it’s unfair – and more than a little odd – that the MPAA demands to work within an environment of strict anonymity, presumably because they don’t want their employees to feel pressured or, worse, to be questioned as to how they arrived at a certain rating.

But why shouldn’t they be questioned? And what’s the trouble with accountability? When a group’s standards are as shaky as those embraced by the MPAA, which routinely favors big studios over independents and gives liberal leeway to graphic violence and gore over sex and sexuality, shouldn’t filmmakers and the public have the right to know who these people are?

Determined to put a face to them, Dick, who fancies himself as something of a Michael Moore (though he doesn’t come close to achieving Moore’s intelligence or his calculating sense of humor), hires a private investigator to root out the group while also making the mistake of dipping into her personal life (who cares?).

Meanwhile, he talks to such directors as John Waters, Matt Stone, Kimberly Peirce and Mary Harron, as well as actress Maria Bello, about their personal experiences with the MPAA and how each of their films was given the undesirable – and unmarketable – NC-17 rating.

Since many theater chains and retailers won’t go near such a movie, the filmmakers are forced to make a choice – either release the film as is and take a substantial financial loss or compromise their vision and remove the so-called offensive material. The problem with this? Incredibly, the MPAA refuses to tell them which scenes are offensive, so the filmmakers are left to wonder exactly how they offended.

All of this makes for a compelling case in favor of reforming the MPAA, but Dick, who is having too much fun pulling his share of hair here, errs in that he isn’t interested in offering alternative ways to fix the organization he’s criticizing. This is the film’s weakness. Instead of getting on his soapbox, pointing his finger at injustice and having something instructive to say about it, he just gets on his box and points. As a result, his movie is entertaining and revealing, but in the end, it’s also slight.

Grade: B-

Also on DVD

THE MARINE, directed by John Bonito, written by Michell Gallagher and Alan McElroy, 95 minutes, rated PG-13.

John Bonito’s “The Marine” is almost exactly the sort of B-movie that used to be the standard for stock action cinema in the ’70s. The difference? It has bigger, better special effects – from the explosions straight down to the characters.

The story is filled with assembly-line nonsense, but few coming to it will give a hurrah that it offers nothing new. What will matter most to its target audience is whether the ammo, action and attitude are in good supply. The short answer is yes.

The film comes from World Wrestling Entertainment, with Vince McMahon serving as the movie’s executive producer. That either will excite you or leave you wanting to spend time surrounded by art and books, as will the idea that the Marine in the title is played by John Cena, the WWE superstar known for his quick wit and, well, other attributes.

What the movie has going for it is that it understands what it is – cheap entertainment that takes itself just seriously enough to allow room to poke fun at itself. Since the movie makes an attempt to be somewhat timely, it opens in Iraq with Cena’s John Triton eager to free several fellow Marines who are about to be executed by al Qaida.

With panache, he pulls it off, but there are consequences to Triton’s heroism. Since he refused to follow orders and wait for backup, he is discharged from service and is forced to become a restless civilian back home in South Carolina. There, he romantically reconnects with wife Kate (Kelly Carlson) before finding dissatisfying work as a security guard, from which he’s quickly fired for some rather inappropriate behavior.

With a vacation in order, John and Kate take off for the mountains, where they have the bad luck of meeting up with some vicious jewel thieves (Robert Patrick, Abigail Bianca and Anthony Ray Parker among them) who take Kate hostage. It’s up to John and John alone to use the skills he learned as a Marine to get her back.

On the surface, it’s easy to dismiss a movie like this, but Hollywood has pumped out a lot worse than “The Marine.” The movie is a cartoon, but it’s reasonably entertaining, it accomplishes its low goals with a measure of menace and humor, and Cena and company work hard to infuse the film with its likably cheap, movie-of-the-week feel. Hardly great, but also hardly awful.

Grade: C+

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and weekends in Television as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video/DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? BDN film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those capitalized and in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Akeelah and the Bee, B+

Annapolis, C-

The Ant Bully, B+

Basic Instinct 2, D+

Big Momma’s House 2, D

The Black Dahlia, C-

Breakfast on Pluto, B

The Break-Up, B

Cars, C

Cheaper by the Dozen 2, C-

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, A

Clerks II, B+

Click, C-

The Constant Gardener, A-

The Covenant, D

Crank, B+

Curious George, B

DALLAS: COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON, B-

Date Movie, D-

The Da Vinci Code, C+

The Descent, B+

The Devil Wears Prada, B+

Double Indemnity, A

Employee of the Month, C

Failure to Launch, C-

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, B

FLYBOYS, C-

Freedomland, C-

Friends with Money, B

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, C+

The Gridiron Gang, C+

HART’S WAR Blu-ray, B+

A History of Violence, A

How Art Made the World, A

The Illusionist, B+

Inside Man, B+

Invincible, B

Jackass Number Two, B

Junebug, A

Kinky Boots, B+

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, B+

Last Holiday, B

The Libertine, D

Little Miss Sunshine, B+

Lucky Number Slevin, B

THE MARINE, C+

Match Point, A

Miami Vice, C

Mission Impossible III, C-

Monster House, B+

Munich, A-

My Super Ex-Girlfriend, A-

Nacho Libre, C

North Country, C

The Omen, B-

OPEN SEASON Blu-ray, B

Over the Hedge, B

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, B-

Poseidon, B

A Prairie Home Companion, C

Rumor Has It … ,C-

Shakespeare Behind Bars, A-

16 Blocks, B

Slither, B

Snakes On A Plane, A-

Stay Alive, D-

Superman Returns, C+

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, B

THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, B-

United 93, A

V for Vendetta, B+

The Wicker Man, BOMB

World Trade Center, A

X-Men: The Last Stand, B-

You, Me and Dupree, C-