Also read: ‘Love is Strange’ Review: John Lithgow and Alfred Molina Play Homeless Husbands in a Classic New York Story 
 
 Once again, the MPAA is coming under fire for its arcane ratings system, which this time around, has given both ultra-violent comic book flick “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” and Ira Sachs‘ critically acclaimed Sundance drama “Love is Strange” R ratings. Love is Strange, which opens in the US this weekend, stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as long-term partners forced to stay separately with friends when Molina loses his job after the couple marry. Meanwhile, films like “The Expendables 3” scored a PG-13 rating, despite featuring violence as the one (weak) lure to come see it at all. See video: John Lithgow and Alfred Molina Discover ‘Love Is Strange’ in First Trailer 
 
 The rating has drawn outrage from critics and bloggers alike, led in part by Newark Star-Ledger critic Stephen Witty’s excoriation of the industry group’s decision. “This is a gentle, if often heartbreaking story about two loving men in a long-time committed relationship. What on earth is in it that so horrifies the MPAA?” he asked, rhetorically. “I’m sorry. I think I just answered my own question.” 
 
 Other writers were less veiled in their anger and accusations. It is about as mild and mainstream a portrayal of gay life as you can imagine ... And it is very hard to imagine that – if it starred, say, Robert Duvall and Jane Fonda as a similar long-time couple suddenly facing homelessness – it would be lumped in with movies crammed full of queasily stylish sexism and sickening torture porn.” 
 
 J Bryan Lowder of Slate magazine added: “What is the ‘adult material’ in Love is Strange that might require “parental accompaniment” for moviegoers under the age of 17? To think otherwise is to participate in an insidious sort of homophobia that uses child-sized human shields to disguise basic prejudice.” 
 
 See photo: This ‘Sin City’ Eva Green Poster Has Too Much Nipple for the MPAA 
 
 Writers at Queerty, The Guardian and The Independent also voiced their objections; in the UK, the film was rated OK for 15-year-olds, while it’s a PG in Canada. as a PG-13 movie, but we were given an R ‘For Sexual References’ while not having a single F-bomb, hint of nudity or violence in the film,” he wrote. “Perhaps the ratings box should more accurately read ‘For Homosexual References’ or ‘Too Many Scenes of Gay Teens Kissing.’ I look forward to a world where queer teens can express their humor and desire in a sweet, fun teen film that doesn’t get tagged with a cautionary R.” 
 
 A spokesman for the MPAA told TheWrap: “The descriptor that accompanies the film’s rating notes that it is rated R for language – as is any film that includes the same level of strong language, regardless of subject matter.” 
 
 The MPAA has been challenged before; just last year, The Weinstein Company won a decision in which the R-rating for its Oscar-nominated “Philomena” was converted to a PG-13.
– You won't see any sex or violence in the new R-rated film Love Is Strange. What you will see is a love story between two men—which has critics wondering whether homophobia might explain the MPAA's rating decision. The movie is about a couple who must live apart after decades together. Yet critics have observed that it's received the same rating as the new Sin City movie, which contains violence, drugs, and nudity, and Jersey Shore Massacre, which is packed with gore, the Guardian notes. "It is very hard to imagine that if it starred, say, Robert Duvall and Jane Fonda as a similar long-time couple suddenly facing homelessness, it would be lumped in with movies crammed full of queasily stylish sexism and sickening torture porn," writes Stephen Whitty in the Star-Ledger. The MPAA tells the Wrap: "The descriptor that accompanies the film's rating notes that it is rated R for language—as is any film that includes the same level of strong language, regardless of subject matter." But the MPAA has been known to show "considerable leeway on language" in other instances, Whitty notes.