Poster for The Bully Project

Controversy abounds and eventually settles.

After the MPAA gave it an R rating for language, Weinstein Co.’s movie Bully which focuses a spotlight on the problem of bullying in school and the lives of the children that have been effected, will now be released unrated.  This decision was made rather than remove the offending language, which it has been argued would whitewash the problem.

Some are concerned that without a rating, some theater owners would give the movie an NC-17 rating, keeping even more young people from seeing it than an R rating would.

Due to bad language, this movie was almost rated R.

According to the AP, Stephen Bruno the president of Weinstein Co. said

We believe theater owners everywhere will step up and do what’s right for the benefit of all of the children out there who have been bullied or may have otherwise become bullies themselves,” Bruno said Monday, adding that the company plans to make the film available to teachers, parents and students nationwide.

Katy Butler, the pioneering teenager who started the petition to have the movie’s MPAA rating changed responded to this news, telling the AP

“The MPAA said they wouldn’t drop the ‘R’ rating unless this language was removed,” she said. “But nothing can remove it from the halls and playgrounds of schools where bullied students hear it each day, except education and exposure.”

What will this really mean? Will the kids who need to see it actually see it? And when and if they do…will the movie help make a difference….?