True Grit and the Disappointment of PG-13

2010 November 23
Over the past few months, I sometimes felt that my excitement for the newest Coen Brothers’ film was just not where it should have been. There was Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin; the trailers seemed great; and it was directed by the COEN BROTHERS. Yet the revealing of seemingly way too much of the plot annoyed me. I wasn’t completely sure I bought Matt Damon in the role, stupidly going by only a few seconds from which to judge. And maybe Jeff Bridges’ character seemed just a bit too over-the-top.
These were all nagging thoughts in my head, ones that I just ignored because it was the Coen Brothers.  I knew deep down there was really no reason to doubt that they had made a totally badass traditional western, especially considering how great No Country for Old Men was. I figured that sort of brutal R-rated violence would translate perfectly to True Grit.
Instead the news comes out that the film is PG-13, and that it was always intended that way. It will be the Coen’s first PG-13 drama. Garbage. Are they getting soft? Do they see the need to create a film for a wider audience? These are the guys that from their first feature, Blood Simple, reveled in violent consequences. These are the guys that filmed Miller’s Crossing and Fargo. Why’d they decide to pussy out with a western? And why’d they have to play up Bridges’ character as a sheriff who shoots first and asks later if I don’t get to see the carnage he inflicts?
I’m not complaining about straight-up violence here, either. It’s also that so much of the Coen’s dark comedic undertones and so many of their disturbing, yet hilarious ideas only worked within that R rating. It’s not that you can’t make a great PG-13 film, but I just don’t see the Coen’s utilizing their full talent within such a framework.

Perhaps I should trust them to know themselves a bit better than I do. It’s not like I’ve even seen all of their films, and they haven’t even made a PG-13 dramatic film to point at and say it didn’t work for them. And I’m still going to see True Grit, I’m just glad I hadn’t had a chance to work myself into a frenzy over it yet.
Now Black Swan on the other hand…

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  • lordoftherink

    Hey, so I just saw True Grit today (along with The King’s Speech, which was sublime) and, well, I don’t know if your view on the rating has changed since writing this, but I thought I’d address what you said here now that I’ve seen the movie.

    “I wasn’t completely sure I bought Matt Damon in the role, stupidly going by only a few seconds from which to judge.”

    Matt Damon is simply a very solid, secondary character here. I think he is believable in the role. Damon will not get nearly as much ink devoted to his role as the two main performances, but he is just fine in the role in my eyes.

    “And maybe Jeff Bridges’ character seemed just a bit too over-the-top.”

    He isn’t. I personally think Roger Ebert nailed it in his review:

    “Bridges doesn’t have the archetypal stature of the Duke. Few ever have. But he has here, I believe, an equal screen presence. We always knew we were looking at John Wayne in the original “True Grit” (1969). When we see Rooster Cogburn in this version, we’re not thinking about Jeff Bridges.

    [He] play[s] Rooster with a savory nastiness that Wayne could not have equaled.”

    Unlike the other movie Jeff Bridges is in that recently came out, he is not drawing from characters he has played previously in True Grit. The trailers seem to suggest that this might be the case, but I didn’t see that in his performance.

    “These are the guys that from their first feature, Blood Simple, reveled in violent consequences. These are the guys that filmed Miller’s Crossing and Fargo. Why’d they decide to pussy out with a western? And why’d they have to play up Bridges’ character as a sheriff who shoots first and asks later if I don’t get to see the carnage he inflicts?”

    There is violence aplenty in this movie, in multiple scenes, and you definitely do get to see the carnage. I was actually kind of taken aback at first, as I expected “PG-13 violence” going in. Clearly you can get away with a lot more now, as this violence is absolutely comparable to what you’ve seen in other works by the Coens. The main PG-13 element you’ll notice is the lack of profanity. No “shit”s, and no “fuck”s, unless I missed one. I didn’t find that their absence took away from the movie at all, though.

    “It’s also that so much of the Coen’s dark comedic undertones and so many of their disturbing, yet hilarious ideas only worked within that R rating. It’s not that you can’t make a great PG-13 film, but I just don’t see the Coen’s utilizing their full talent within such a framework.”

    There is not the same level of dark comedy in True Grit, but it is there, and I’d definitely call parts of the movie dark. It may not be as full of their trademark ideas as some of their other works, but to compare it to their other western of sorts, this does have a lot more in it than No Country For Old Men.

    You do say at the end that you’ll be seeing it anyways, but I thought I’d offer my perspective, take from it what you will. I don’t want to hype the movie to unrealistic proportions, but I enjoyed it immensely. Hailee Stanfield is particularly impressive. Hers is the type of performance that should be judged not as a particularly good child actor, but as a good actress period. I haven’t seen Winter’s Bone or Black Swan, so I won’t say it’s the best female performance this year or anything like that, but it is very good. Hope you enjoy the movie whenever you see it.

    • http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog CajoleJuice

      Wow, what a comment. Thanks for going through all that and pretty much allaying all my fears. The lack of profanity doesn’t bother me at all; I didn’t even notice There Will Be Blood had none until my grandpa pointed it out to me while praising it as the best new movie he had seen in a years.

      But yeah, I was planning on seeing it already. Actually had a friend point out to me last night during Festivus that it was out and that we should see it. I will probably end up going on Tuesday.

  • Henk

    I love the Coen Bros. I have all their films on laserdisc (well except for the last ones, since they are not available on LD unfortunately ;-) )

    True Grit was a REAL disapointment for me, way too flat. Nice shooting scenes, but thats it… And the ending… I watched the end-credits and thought: This is it?!

    Yup I really think they’re after a wider audience, but I’ll be not in this new audience. Bummer.

    • http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog CajoleJuice

      They stated they wanted to do a “family film” and I think they achieved their goal, even if there was that one fairly gruesome scene in the cabin. But hey, Temple of Doom was rated PG back in the day.

      I’m sure they’ll go back to more of their traditional fare after this. I liked True Grit well enough, but it’s no Serious Man or No Country.