Rate It X

'Rate It X' is a documentary of very slight entertainment value and no educational value. I get the impression that the film-makers said to each other: 'Let's make a low-budget movie, because we can't afford to do anything bigger. Let's make it about sex, so it will be sure to get distribution. And let's make it a documentary, so we can pretend we're making an educational movie to enlighten people, instead of a cheap piece of exploitational schlock.' The film-makers keep trying to convince us that this movie has something deeply important to say about the sex industry, but all it does is snigger at people who express their sexual interests. (Or who make money by indulging other people's sexual interests.) Also, the film-makers seem to be implying that Americans are fixated on sex, more so than other cultures ... when in fact the only difference is that Americans have the time and money to indulge their sexual tastes, whilst people in other cultures aren't always so fortunate.

This movie features on-camera interviews with a few random people on the periphery of the sex industry, including an erotic baker (who makes cakes shaped like pudenda and gonads) and Ugly George, a guy who walks around with a vidcam asking attractive women to take their clothes off. The film-makers clearly want us to laugh at these people, but there's nothing funny happening here.

The anti-male prejudice of the two (female) film-makers is blatant. All the men in this film are depicted as perverted or pathetic, or both, whilst the women here are universally treated as victims of male exploitation. The film-makers neglect to mention that the sex industry is the only one in which female employees are consistently paid more than males.

Even the format of this documentary is offensive. Co-director Lucy Winer conducts on-camera interviews without actually appearing on-camera: all we see of her is one hand in a dainty white glove, fastidiously holding a microphone at arm's length at the edge of the camera frame while the rest of her body is offscreen, trying to keep as far away from the interviewee as possible. It's clear that Winer and her collaborator Paula De Koenigsberg have nothing but contempt for the subjects they interview here.

Worse luck, the soundtrack is polluted by a title song: 'Rate It X', a vaguely country-western ditty written by the grossly untalented Liz Swados.

If the film-makers had been honest, they could have used this film to raise some intelligent questions about their subject. For instance: why is erotica considered positive and affirming and empowering when it's intended to arouse women, but treated as filthy and perverted when it's intended to arouse men? You won't encounter any intelligent questions or honest answers anywhere in 'Rate It X'. I'll rate this useless movie one point out of 10.

Independently-made documentary on the selling of sex in everyday advertising and in adult films and magazines--as seen by disgusted female filmmakers. There's nothing here about selling male models as beefcake; directors Paula De Koenigsberg and Lucy Winer want us to see how women only are exploited by sexist, chauvinist pigs in everything from ads to porno rags. The low-budget isn't obtrusive--we understand exactly what the two woman are after as soon as one of them asks, "Do you feel guilty about what you do?" (Their film does manage to raise some pathetic laughter, however, from the clueless, smug, smirky men interviewed, especially the nudie photographer who pronounces girls as 'goyles'.) Also, for extra measure, we get a circle of military veterans--elderly men, mind you, from the Old School--who are asked such questions as, "Why is it OK for a girl to play baseball and basketball but it's not OK for a boy to play with dolls?" This scene tips us off that De Koenigsberg and Winer are out to stir the pot, but consulting the old guard on matters of what-makes-a-man-a-man is too easy a target. We know what the answers are going to be before we hear them. ** from ****

If you're interested about how men view women (at least in the 1980's, but I think it won't change much) then this is a good one to watch. The film offers frank opinions on women from men of different races, ages, and classes. The film quality is cheap and the music is horrible, but these factors really don't have anything to do with the material it presents. It's honest, thus rather explicit.

I found the first adult video game pretty damn funny.

Incredibly one-sided and biased, Rate It X is barely a documentary. The only point being made is that men are filthy perverts, intent on subjegating women and using them for their personal pleasure. The chosen subjects range from Ugly George, a Manhattan cable TV host who cajoles women into flashing their bodies on camera, to a preacher who would like to return Old Testament values to modern society. All are chosen for their various qualities of ignorance, arrogance, unattractiveness or just plain creepiness. The "erotic" baker is innocent of any crime against women, he merely makes bikini-torso cakes for male customers. Much is made of the fact that the cakes don't have heads. The revelation that men prefer a woman's breasts is less than shocking. A discussion among elderly VFW-types nearly makes a statement about middle-American values in regard to male-female roles, but the film-makers can't come up with anything more incisive to ask than "would you let your son play with dolls?" The advertising industry is put on trial for its use of attractive women in print ads, as if it was inherently evil to show women in their underwear in a women's underwear ad! An extremely narrow and unenlightened attempt to portray men as abusive brutes that fails miserably. Entertaining as an example of bad film-making.

This film is a funny look at a frustrating subject, male sexism in America. The film was certainly ahead of its time in its focus on the things that have now become mainstream and profitable: the sexism inherent in most mass market videogames, the explosion of the porn business in America, and of course, 'Girls Gone Wild'. Yet the film is not just a polemic, it maintains a sense of humor and style throughout. It would be interesting to see what the directors think of how male outlooks have changed, and how they have stayed the same in the decades since the film's release. Much of the industry that was out in public during the 1980s is now hidden in the home. But have attitudes shifted significantly from those so incisively examined in the film?