Is that nacho cheese on your shirt? Ha, made you look.

The MPAA has lowered the rating for Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno from NC-17 to R.  Smith received an NC-17 rating for his first cut of the film, then re-cut it, and received another NC-17.  He appealed the second rating without re-cutting, and upon second viewing, the MPAA gave it an R-rating.  The board was probably just way less horny the second time around.

Smith said the MPAA ratings board objected to two sex scenes involving co-stars Jason Mewes and [pornstar] Katie Morgan. After the movie’s initial NC-17 rating, Smith said he trimmed those scenes as far as he was willing to go but was unable to convince the board to lower the rating.

"They felt it was rather sexually graphic. My point is, it was comically graphic. All the sex in the movie with the exception of one scene is very cartoonish, very campy," Smith said. "It wasn’t designed to titillate."

The appeals board, a separate panel from the ratings board, viewed the movie Tuesday, and Smith presented his arguments. It was the third time Smith successfully talked his way down to a lower rating: His 1994 debut "Clerks" initially received an NC-17 rating that was reduced to an R on appeal, while his 2003 film "Jersey Girl" was reduced to PG-13 after first being rated R. [AP]

Phew. Not only would an NC-17 rating have been commercial suicide, it would’ve robbed our nation’s youth of the kind of witty, incisive commentary on pop culture events from 20 years ago for which Smith is known.  Okay, now in this scene, two people are gonna sit in front of something…