Film festival favorite Shame receives NC-17 rating

Shame, the new film from director Steve McQueen — not the dead screen icon, but the guy who directed 2008's Hunger — has been garnering rave reviews for the performances of its two leads, Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. (Funny how they cast both my future husband and future BFF. The universe is crazy like that.) The movie follows a sex addict (Fassbender) whose life spins out of control when his sister (Mulligan) moves into his apartment. You can imagine some of the scenes that set-up requires, and you're not wrong: apparently Fassbender spends a good deal of the film completely naked.

So it was a shock to absolutely no one that the film received an NC-17 rating; in fact, the rating was such a foregone conclusion that whichever distribution company picked the film had to agree not to change a single frame. Refreshingly, Fox Searchlight isn't freaking out about the news:

Fox Searchlight will wear that rating like a badge, despite the limitations that come with trying to market NC-17. Nobody feels this is a gimmick, and Shame is getting great critical response and gives Fassbender a real shot at an Oscar nomination. This might be the closest thing to Last Tango in Paris or Midnight Cowboy that we’ve seen in quite a long time.

Truly a blow to sixteen-year-olds everywhere who are just dying for some art house cinema. Teens: if you want to see this film because there is nudity, just use the internet. If you want to see this film because it looks good, just buy a ticket to Tree of Life or whatever and go into the other theater. Sneaking into a film is literally one of the easiest things on earth — as if the other sixteen year-old tearing your ticket actually gives a shit what movie you see — and don't let anyone tell you anything to the contrary.