This past weekend, I went to see Spectre with a group of family and friends. Bond, James, Bond was perfectly entertaining… however, before the movie even started, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. (And it wasn’t the expired Swedish Fish. Although I don’t think Swedish Fish ever really expire.)
Spectre is rated PG-13, primarily for violence. Yet, the previews before Spectre were unbelievably graphic and disgusting. In particular, a preview for the Ryan Reynolds movie, Deadpool, was particularly vulgar. Someone at the theater clearly had mistakenly mixed up the previews, and had shown the R-rated previews at a PG-13 rated movie. It was a mistake that haunted me for the next two days.
I usually start out my complaints about R rated material with “I’m sorry to be a prude, but…” but the truth is that I’m not sorry to be a prude, especially when it is SO unexpected. If I were viewing any stupid Seth Rogan movie, I would expect juvenile, disgusting, and typically less-than-funny sex and swear-induced profanity. But this was Bond, James, Bond. While there’s plenty of violence in a Bond movie, there’s no explicit gore. While there are lots of sexy women, they keep their clothes on. And the bottom line is that a Bond movie is a movie that I can watch with my family.
Call me a prude, but sometimes you just want a movie you can watch without blushing.
