Merrick here...


There's a lot of talk out there about comments made by Brett Ratner regarding the recently announced BEVERLY HILLS COP 4 in a post at MTV's website.

When asked what is biggest challenge would be, Ratner seemed to indicate that his new film would be geared towards a very PG audience.

“10-year-old kids, 12-year-old kids don’t really know the old ‘Beverly Hills Cop.’ So it’s an opportunity to make it new for kids,” Ratner said. “The same way it felt for me watching ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ when I was a kid, that’s what I want to do for kids today.”

...says THIS ARTICLE at MTV.

As much as I intensely dislike his film making, it should be noted that Ratner does not implicitly say BEVERLY HILLS COP 4 will carry a "safer" rating from its predecessors - although he certainly seems to imply as much. After all, he's talking about how he felt as a "kid"...watching films that were R rated when they were released. That's a wholly different vibe than a PG or PG-13 rating would bring about.

I'm not trying to make excuses for a film maker for whom there are no excuses...just trying to be fair, and suggest there might be a bit of misinterpretation afoot here.

This said, we need to remember studios' increasing reluctance to release R rated fare (LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, TERMINATOR SALVATION). Regardless of what Ratner meant to say, and considering who is directing it, it's a safe bet BHC 4 won't feel like its progenitors.