It’s certainly no accident that The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman found out about and reported on Bruno initially receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. After all, what raunchy docu-comedy wouldn’t want additional buzz focused on how “objectionable” some scenes were? Universal and Sacha Baron Cohen obviously pushed the envelope in order to both see how much they could get away with and to draw attention to themselves with a desired NC-17. Hasn’t anyone been following Hollywood the past 10 years? Here are a few benefits to both garnering the unacceptable rating and having news of that “unfortunate” rating leaked to all the fanboy bloggers:

• Typical outrage over the MPAA’s dealings guarantee postings (including this one), which continue to give attention to the film.
• Excitement over how hard the ultimate R-rating will likely be continues the interest from moviegoers interested in raunchy content. And if they’re upset that it won’t be as dirty as the original NC-17 version they can always…
• …look forward to the Unrated DVD release, which will most definitely include the censored “objectionable” scenes either in the movie or as supplement material.

Of course, news of the ratings controversy does draw potentially unfair complaints regarding the MPAA’s reputation for typically having problems with homosexual themes. For once, though, the gay community can leave the ratings board alone on this one, since the studio and filmmakers most certainly wanted all of this. Of course, if you do decide to protest, make sure you mention the film title often. That will help the marketing, too.

And now some of the unnecessary complaints from my fellow internerds helping with the film’s buzz:

• Ryan Adams at Awards Daily knows what I’m talking about, though he’s as guilty as the rest of us for keeping the buzz flowing:
  

  We know Sharon Waxman knows exactly what’s going on here, and understands the game being played. Maybe she thinks nobody else does, because this gets reported in breathless gasps, as if we’re all supposed to be shocked and concerned…Where does Waxman think we think the scenes for unrated DVD editions come from?

• Eric Melin at Scene Stealers is right on the money:
  

  It’s not uncommon, actually, for filmmakers to submit a first cut that is way raunchier than anything they actually hope to get a way with. Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Kevin Smith do it all the time. The hope is, that after the board goes back and forth with the film asking the director to snip a little penis here or a poop joke there, that the filmmaker will end up with something that’s still pretty raunchy.

• Jim Vejvoda at IGN appears to get it in his parenthetical comment below, but I’m not sure:
  

  Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to his wildly successful Borat, has reportedly been branded with the commercially dreaded (or maybe not so much in this case) NC-17 rating.

• Erik Davis at Cinematical also seems to see the ultimate benefit of the NC-17 footage, even if he plays a bit more into the buzz machinery:
  

  Since Universal won’t release a film that’s rated NC-17 — especially because they know this sucker will make a ton of money for them assuming it gets its R rating — you can bet Baron Cohen will be forced to cut or trim the scenes the MPAA deems not appropriate and leave them for an unrated DVD. So fear not, friends, this will find its way to theaters — it’ll just take a little more time to hash out the ratings snafu.

• Lane Brown at Vulture provides an update from the comment’s section of Waxman’s original post.
  

  An earlier version of Waxman’s story, posted last night, said another part deemed unacceptable was one in which “two naked men attempt oral sex in a hot tub, while one of them holds a baby.” But in the comments, Waxman says a Universal spokesperson contacted her to clarify that “the hot tub scene is not on the list that the MPAA finds objectionable.” So we won’t even have to wait for the DVD to see that one.

• Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net catches the bait, though of course he’s right in his response, too:
  

  why is this good news? Because as ludicrous and awesome as Borat was, it sounds like Bruno is going to kick things up another notch, especially in the sexual department. Did anyone really think that Cohen would be able to top that 3-minute naked fight scene?

• “The rating is a blow as the film is unlikely to be given a release unless the downgraded ‘R’ rating is achieved,” writes The Playlist, also missing the obvious intent. A blow? More like the opposite.
• Neil Miller at Film School Rejects reminds us of what the MPAA board is like. As for his question at the end there, I think I’ve answered it.
  

  Now, as a securely heterosexual man, I can’t say that any of this would bother me in a movie, especially if it were to be used for humorous effect — but I can see how the MPAA might not like it. It’s a long-held theory of many in the industry that they are a very prude group, consistently being more harsh on sexuality than violence. Then again, who knows what kind of footage Baron Cohen has put into this movie

• Peter Knegt at indieWIRE takes the opportunity to point out that the top-grossing NC-17 film was Showgirls, which made just a little more than $20 million. But of course that isn’t the only reason Universal wants Bruno to release with an R.
• “So a guy has butt sex on camera with another guy and suddenly it’s NC-17? Pfft!,” complains Omar Aviles at JoBlo.com, regarding the MPAA’s typical behavior before concluding with the obvious understanding that this “isn’t a total loss because Bruno in all his astoundingly gay glory will likely be unleashed uncensored on DVD at some point.”
• “Disembowelment and limb-tearing still ok but simulated buttsecks might send kids the wrong message,” reads part of the Fark.com link headline, addressing the MPAA’s usual double standard (as usual, the comments there are worth a read).
• Richard at Defamer also jokingly complains that it is indeed homosexual content that is unfortunately being cited as “objectionable”:
  

  [Borat] had a famous naked men wrestling sequence, though it wasn’t as overtly homocentric as Bruno butt fucking or going on a talk show to discuss same-sex parenting, adopted black baby in tow. The notoriously homo and dick-phobic ratings board just can’t abide that. Baron Cohen has appealed and the film will go back to the editing room to try and come up with a more palatable version.

  Meanwhile the gratuitous tits of a movie not trying to say anything at all except “Straight men! Whoo!” like the abysmal College sail comfortably under the radar. Boys will be boys, not do them.

Update:

• Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere posted this just as the Bloggery went live, but since he’s so on point about both the benefit of the rating “snag” and the MPAA’s double standard, he just had to be added in:
  

  This is surprising? What kind of rep would this 7.10 Universal release have if the MPAA’s ratings board had given it a nice obliging R? Please…We’re experiencing the Fall of the Roman Empire and the End of Civilization as we know it– why not allow such scenes to be included in adult fare? Why can’t we be more like Scandanavia or Sweden or Denmark? They aren’t so wang-averse over there, I thought that Billy Crudup’s blue schlong in Watchmen signified a sea change in U.S. values.