Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

jaibo On paper this looks like a good idea - a film about the pioneer pornographic film-making brothers Jim and Artie Mitchell, starring film-star brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. There might well have been a great film made out of the story, but the finished product simply lacks a governing intelligence with anything dramatically exciting or insightful to say about the tale.Estevez directs from a script to which three writers are credited. The piece takes a very formulaic television bio-movie approach to its subject matter. We begin at the end, with Artie threatening to kill Jim, then zap back to their boyhood and then forwards in chronological order through their establishing themselves in the adult movie business, battling for their 5th amendment right to make and exhibit their films, hit big time with the feature Behind the Green Door, stand up to the mob, get over-ambitious in their film-making and fall to pieces through drinks, drugs and broken relationships. Jim manages to pull himself together but Artie goes off the rails, and ironically Jim ends up shooting his errant brother dead.There's an attempt to show that the brothers learned the value of sorting out problems with a gun early on, although this is never linked to the wider gun culture in American (an approach which might have been intriguing). The final scenes are emotionally affecting but too much of the film plods by and left this viewer with a feeling that both the milieu had been better portrayed and the techniques better utilized elsewhere. The film lacks the epic feel of a descent into the pit which makes Boogie Nights so powerful; the flashy cutting, integration of music and showy set pieces all feel a bit second-hand - Scorsese, MTV, even Spielberg circa Jaws are referenced but apart from an impressive tracking shot following one of the wives from one brother in the swimming pool to another sniffing coke upstairs, nothing ever flies out of the screen - it remains steadfastly movie-of-the-week stuff.The problem is perhaps ultimately in the subject matter: porn films have such a visceral effect with their meat shots and money shots that unless we are actually going to go there and see those things, it is very difficult to convey the intensity of the environment in a non-porn drama. Boogie Nights managed it through the quality and originality of the writing, acting and film-making; everything in Rated X is perfectly respectable (perhaps that is part of the issue?), but nothing really powerful or astonishing occurs. Nothing more is to be gained from the film than reading the short wikipedia entry on the Mitchell Brothers, and imagining better films like Boogie Nights and The People Vs Larry Flint.

ZenDream I remember walking thru the times square district in NYC. I seen massive billboards for 'Rated X', including a building covered nearly in half with a huge poster type. Including the commercials played over and over. Yeah, it was 'hyped' up at the time, it actually caught my attention. What caught my attention is based on a 'true story' and also the actors/true life brothers. Always enjoyed them acting together.It's your typical movie..get success/money, drugs and addiction, greed, fighting among each other, and eventually murder. However it's a refreshing story line with great acting by great actors. Other users comment says who cares about the porn industry. True, but I didn't see this movie because of 'porn'. I watched it because it was based on the true lives of 2 brothers which spiraled apart due to greed, different visions and drugs. Nevertheless it was a great story.Should serve as a reminder to entrepreneurs entering a dark fast paced market, porn, drugs, etc.. greed/drugs/money will usually get the best of you and tear you apart from the very people you first started out with.8-9 rating for good story and great acting.

Coventry This film kind of is Emilio Estevez' comeback after a dreadfully slow decade of kiddies' stuff and inferior TV-productions. Estevez and his brother Charlie Sheen portray the Mitchell brothers, Jim and Arnie. From the early 70's until the early 90's these boys ruled the Californian porn industry and opened their own San Franciscan nudie theater and strip club. As usual in this type of biopic films, we first get to see a whole series of highlights (like their big breakthrough porn film 'Beyond the Green Door') before the 'drama' kicks in. Both brothers put industrial amounts of dope up their noses and their relationships all go to hell. This isn't an immensely impressive film because you've all seen it before – slightly better – in epics like 'Boogie Nights' or even 'The People vs. Larry Flint'. Still it's worthwhile thanks to the performances of Estevez, Sheen and a few members of the supportive cast like Terry O'Quin (The Stepfather) as Mitchell senior. If you're a fan of Sheen or Estevez (or both) this is definitely worth a peek. They both look deliciously rancid. Not highly memorable, but amusing while it lasts…which is a bit too long by the way.

Bobfingr Despite the real interesting story which I advice to read from the book (this movie doesn't make a good portrait of it) the direction of the film was horrible. Was necessary to move around the camera so much? Like the worst MTV video. Just because there wasn't much of happening the director thought that is the way to entertain an audience. Don't think so. Often the movie was incredible boring. The acting, specially regarding Sheen, was terrible. I don't reccomend this movie. Choose instead "Boogie Night", which has a very good professional direction and better, much better acting. I wonder if someone could get a compensation for have bought the film on DVD (that's me!)