Rated X (2000)

Rated X (2000) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Filmmakers Artie and Jim Mitchell (Charlie Sheen/Emilio Estevez) find fame with Behind the Green Door, one of the few porn titles to hit the mainstream. The first half dealing with the porn business in the early 70's is very interesting but sadly the second half of the film goes downhill as we see the two men fall from grace. Estevez directs very nicely but we've seen this countless times and nothing new is really done here. Sheen gives the performance of his career and Estevez the actor does a nice job as well.

This is one of the many films in the series that materializes America's fascination with its own sub-culture - violence, drugs, pornography - all coming closer to mainstream in the complex American landscape of the 70's and 80's. It's well done and acted, and I liked it. The true story of the Mitchell brothers, pioneers of porn and live nude shows in San Francisco is told in a linear manner, without too many stuff like 'free speech' justification, as in 'Larry Flint'. The Mitchell guys consider their business just a business, and are not concerned at any point with its human or moral implications. The relationship between the brothers is the central theme, and it is well rendered by the two main actors - Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez (who is also directing). Some more logic in the script would have made a memorable movie. Some of the familiar relations, or the Mafia involvement seem to be just lost in the action. It is however a good film, and I am amazed by the negative comments of other viewers in IMDb, and by the lack of more critical feedback. Maybe the theme is still hard to digest for the American critics, I do not know. An 8/10 on my scale.

I caught this movie on a movie channel not knowing what it was, never even heard about it or the Mitchell brothers. And to tell you the truth I didn't expect very much of it. I have always considered Charlie Sheen to be a quite bad actor and can you name one single movie Emilio Estevez has made since young guns? But to my pleasant surprise the movie turned out to be pretty good. Ok it was a bit slow sometimes, but overall it's a quite interesting story about 2 brothers rise and fall. To bad that both of them lost it and messed everything up, but hey, you can't change a story that is based on a true story, right? I give this movie 3 points out of 5 possible. These brothers life caught my attention I will definitely read the book now.

Come on! This movie was directed by Emilio Estevez people, and co-stars him and his brother Charlie Sheen. So if you are expecting something as impressive and accomplished as 'Boogie Nights' you are obviously insane! Estevez previously directed two of the worst movies ever made 'Wisdom' and 'Men At Work', and he isn't getting any better. Martin Scorsese he ain't! And Estevez and Sheen between them have appeared in many of the lamest turkeys of the last twenty years. Add 'Rated X' to that list.The story of the rise and fall of the Mitchell brothers, who were partly responsible for legitimizing porn in the 1970s with 'Behind The Green Door', could have been made into a fascinating movie if it was written, acted and directed by somebody of greater ability. Which, let's face it, is just about anybody. Estevez and co go absolutely nowhere with this potentially interesting material. The brothers relationship is simplified so much, and their odd relationship with their father is never fully explored, so we never truly understand what motivates them, or end up caring about their fates.The only thing you'll get from this movie are some cheap laughs from Sheen flipping out and hamming it up outrageously. Going by his laughably bad performance in this, and a similar nutty one in 'Bad Day On The Block', he seems to be attempting to usurp Dennis Hopper's crown as the King of Screen Psychos. After his amusing self-parodic role in 'Being John Malkovich' it's difficult to say just how self conscious this is, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. All I can say is that Charlie cracks me up! He's a real card.