"Porno" comedy gets ratings reprieve

LOS ANGELES  -

"Clerks" director Kevin Smith has made a porn movie
the whole family can watch.

His racy comedy, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," successfully appealed
its restrictive NC-17 rating, and will be released on October 31 with an R rating,
which allows viewers under 17 to see it as long as they are accompanied by an adult,
distributor Weinstein Co. said on Wednesday.

Films tagged with an NC-17 are off limits to anyone aged 17 and under,
and generally disappear at the box office.
No NC-17 films have been released since 2005, according to the Motion Picture
Assn of America, which administers the ratings system.

"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as roommates
and platonic friends who make a pornographic film to escape ruinous debt.
But they soon find out creating a porno is more emotionally complicated
than they had expected.

Two of Smith's previous comedies, "Clerks" and "Jersey Girl,"
also had their original MPAA rating overturned by the appeals board,
the Weinstein Co. said.
"Clerks" ended up with an R rating and "Jersey Girls" got a PG-13,
which warns that "some material may be inappropriate for children under 13."
(Reuters)