MPAA Ratings: 'Iron Man 2,' 'Going the Distance,' 'The Rum Diary'
The Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Ratings Administration released their weekly ratings bulletin this morning, which included new ratings for Iron Man 2, Going the Distance and The Rum Diary.

Easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Iron Man 2 received a PG-13 rating for "sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language." The first Iron Man, which opened in May 2008 and grossed $318.4 million, was also rated PG-13, but with a slightly different explanation ("some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content"). Iron Man 2 sees the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Gwyneth Paltrow as his confidante Pepper Potts, while also adding Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson and Sam Rockwell to the cast. Directed by Jon Favreau, Iron Man 2 hits theaters May 7, or three weeks from Friday.

In a slightly surprising result, romantic comedy Going the Distance was rated R for "sexual content including dialogue, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity." With Drew Barrymore and Justin Long starring as a couple trying out a long-distance relationship, distributor Warner Bros. may prefer a supposedly more inclusive PG-13 rating, but an R-rating isn't necessarily an inhibitor as recent romantic comedies It's Complicated ($112.7 million), The Ugly Truth ($88.9 million) and Up in the Air ($83.8 million) have shown.

The Rum Diary, based off a novel by Hunter S. Thompson, received an R rating for "language, brief drug use and sexuality." Johnny Depp stars in the movie, marking his second semi-autobiographical Thompson role after Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas from 1998. While Fear and Loathing was basically a two-hour long acid trip, The Rum Diary appears to be billed as an adventure of sorts, with Depp's protagonist finding himself embroiled in rum, women and international politics while working for a newspaper in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Jenkins are also in the mix. The Rum Diary is tentatively scheduled for 2010, though production company GK Films has yet to find a distributor.

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• New MPAA Ratings Chart