Friends star David Schwimmer faces off against the MPAA for giving his latest film an R rating.

Trust, a film about a 14 year old girl who is raped by an online predator, was directed by Schwimmer and he feels that the rating would prevent younger audiences from seeing it.

Schwimmer tells Deadline; “There is no nudity, no overt sexuality other that what needed to be implied for a scene in the hotel room where we learn that a rape took place. I think the scene was tastefully handled.”

The director went on to say; “The idea that Clive’s character should respond by shouting ‘Fiddlesticks’ is just not real. “Let’s face it, kids have heard and seen it all. What I find frustrating is there are plenty of films that get PG-13 that are the so violent. There is a double standard. You can’t show nudity or hear the F-word, but you can show people being blown to bits and chopped up. Maybe a public forum will show that the ratings system needs to be updated to reflect the times. It is quite old.”

This isn’t the first time that the MPAA has been in the news this year. Last month there was controversy over the Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams film Blue Valentine which was given an NC-17 rating. As of today, the rating still stands, and the film is set to be in limited release December 31st.

While I of course believe that standards and rating systems are necessary to limit availability to younger movie goers, I do believe that in the case of ‘Trust’ that the R rating is a little bit too severe.

I’ve seen plenty of films with fairly graphic sexual scenes, tons of violence and profanity that have at best gotten PG-13 ratings.

Check out the trailer for ‘Trust’ and let me know via the comments section whether the R rating should hold, or be reduced to PG-13.