Tuesday night at the OFRB

Once in awhile the Ontario Film Review Board opens their theatre to the public to rate a film. I went on Tuesday as part of a fundraiser for United Way (pay $5 to be the first to see and rate a movie). It's a bit of a gamble because you don't know what film you're rating until just a few minutes before it starts, but being a part of the process makes it all worth it.

Earlier on Tuesday, they rated Charlotte's Web (a wonderful movie, said the Chair of the OFRB). Tuesday night we rated Smokin' Aces.

Smokin' Aces has a lot of big names - Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Ryan Reynolds, Alicia Keys, Andy Garcia - but don't let that fool you. It was a terrible movie!! What is funny is that the Chair of the OFRB introduced the movie by saying something to the effect of : it's got Ben Affleck so it should be good for a laugh or two. How wrong she was! It was anything BUT funny. And completely NOT what any of us were expecting. First of all there were so many expletives the OFRB reviewers couldn't keep up (their lights kept flashing on and off as they ticked off what was said, and when), there was a lot of implied violence and lots of fake blood, there really wasn't much for a plot - no suspense, no character development. But being a part of the process made it worth it. I would do it again.

Here's what I learned about film rating:

• The Ontario Film Review Board was the first board to start rating films in North America in the 1920s.
  
• The OFRB rates up to 3 or 4 films a day, everything from Charlotte's Web to "adult" films
• The OFRB reviewers post their comments/observations on the OFRB website
  
• A PG film is allowed to have 3 "f***s"
• Directors know how to monopolise on "implied violence", ie. lots of blood, but no actual visible violence (as demonstrated in "Smokin Aces").
• Distributors want the rating to be low because a low rating means the movie will be available to the largest market (ie. more people can see a 14A film than a 18A film). They will appeal a decision to try to get a lower rating.
  
• A film reel is usually about 20 minutes long, and you can tell when a reel is about to be changed when you see a black dot in the upper right hand corner.