MPAA smacks new John Waters film with NC-17 rating

Out cult film director John Waters's new film is too Dirty for Hollywood. The appeals board of the Motion Picture Association of America, which oversees movie classifications, has upheld a decision to slap an NC-17 rating on A Dirty Shame, starring British comedian Tracey Ullman as a working-class store owner who turns into a depraved sex addict following a concussion. The NC-17 tag, the toughest of the MPAA's five-step program, denies admission to anyone aged 17 and under. Just two NC-17 films have been released domestically this year--Sony Pictures Classics's Young Adam, from British director David Mackenzie, and Fox Searchlight's Bernardo Bertolucci-helmed The Dreamers. The two movies have brought in $310,000 and $2.5 million respectively. A Dirty Shame, which also stars Johnny Knoxville, Selma Blair, and Chris Isaak, is set up at Fine Line Features, the arthouse arm of New Line Cinema.