Director Atom Egoyan will have a hard time selling his new film Where The Truth Lies. The MPAA slapped a rare NC-17 rating on the flick for explicit sexual scenes between the three costars: Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard. The movie also stars Alison Lohman.

The film's distributor must now decide whether or not to release it as NC-17 or tag it as "unrated." Why all the fuss? Well, the NC-17 rating still spells death in box office sales, truncates advertising outlets and tarnishes the public perception before the celluloid makes it to the theatres. Truth be told, outside of Los Angeles and New York, audiences will be hard pressed to find the film, even if it's released unrated.

We wonder why the MPAA grants films with violence, exorcism and massive explosions a PG-13 or R rating... but the blinders come off when sex is involved.

Given all the other serious issues going on right now, we find it hypocritical that sex is considered so dangerous. When is the MPAA going to grow up and realize that the American public is smarter than it thinks?

The film is scheduled for release on October 14 in LA and New York.