10 R-Rated Movies That Should Have Been PG-13

5) Almost Famous (2000)

Despite failing at the box office, Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical comedy was a huge hit with critics at the time of its release, gaining four Oscar nominations and a win for Crowe’s screenplay. Perhaps Almost Famous would have gained a wider audience though if the MPAA hadn’t prevented a huge section of its target maket from seeing the movie, based on its restrictive R rating.

Sure, there’s some brief nudity and drug use, but these vices are presented here in the form of a cautionary tale, one championed by the late film critic Roger Ebert. The MPAA hasn’t made many friends over the years, but few attacked them quite like Ebert, who infamously said that the “MPAA cannot have values; it can only count beans, or nipples, or four-letter words.”

Ouch.