Director Darren Stein is defending his new teen comedy, " G.B.F.," after the Motion Picture Association of America slapped the film with an R rating, citing "sexual references."
"What really appealed to me about the screenplay was that it felt like a mainstream teen comedy that could reach a wide audience," Stein, who feels the film should've warranted a PG-13 rating at most, told HuffPost Live in an interview last week.
The director, whose credits include 1999's teen-centric black comedy "Jawbreaker," believes that "G.B.F." (which stands for "gay best friend") is very appropriate for young audiences.
"The tone is very sweet and good-natured; there's no nudity and no violence," he said. "There's not even the F-word."
The movie, which is set for a Jan. 14 release, tells the story of closeted teens Tanner (played by “United States of Tara” alum Michael J. Willett) and Brent (Paul Iacono). In an effort to make himself a hip “social accessory” among a revered girls' clique at his high school, Brent hatches a plan to come out in a very big way. His efforts go hilariously awry, however, when the more introverted Tanner is accidentally outed first and ends up as the school’s most popular student in the weeks leading up to the senior prom.
Read HuffPost Gay Voices' earlier interview with Stein and Iacono here.
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