Similar to The King's Speech, John Hughes' hilarious Planes, Trains and Automobiles received an R-rating for a single profanity-laden scene, in which Steve Martin's character launches an irate tirade against a worker in a rental car joint:
Car Rental Agent: Welcome to Marathon, may I help you? Neal: Yes. Car Rental Agent: How may I help you? Neal: You can start by wiping that fucking dumb-ass smile off your rosey, fucking, cheeks! And you can give me a fucking automobile: a fucking Datsun, a fucking Toyota, a fucking Mustang, a fucking Buick! Four fucking wheels and a seat! Car Rental Agent: I really don't care for the way you're speaking to me. Neal: And I really don't care for the way your company left me in the middle of fucking nowhere with fucking keys to a fucking car that isn't fucking there. And I really didn't care to fucking walk, down a fucking highway, and across a fucking runway to get back here to have you smile in my fucking face. I want a fucking car RIGHT FUCKING NOW! Car Rental Agent: May I see your rental agreement? Neal: I threw it away. Car Rental Agent: Oh boy. Neal: Oh boy, what? Car Rental Agent: You're fucked!
While in the UK the film was slapped with a 15 rating, the American R-rating is deemed one of the harshest, for the likes of New Zealand and Canada awarded it a PG-rating, which the U.S. and UK would surely have without this scene. One can only assume that Hughes loved the scene too much - and rightly so - not to remove it. But it stands as another ridiculous, arbitrary standard set by the MPAA; it ignores contextual use, just like in The King's Speech. Are we being too new-age and lenient? Were these films fairly handed the R rating? Maybe you're better parents than we are! Let us know in the comments below.