"Austin Powers"

"Big Daddy"

"South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut"

July 8, 1999
Web posted at: 4:04 p.m. EDT (2004 GMT)

From Jim Moret
CNN Entertainment News Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- From a scene in which Adam Sandler appears to relieve himself in public to a film that features a teen's erotic acts with an apple pie, some of this summer's films are earning an R rating that might stand for "raunch."

People are heading to cinemas in record numbers. And some of the biggest hits are also the earthiest.

Mike Myers' sequel to "Austin Powers," squirming with sexual innuendo, earned more in three days than the first film earned during its entire run in 1997.

The R-rated animated film "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" landed at No. 4 this weekend, blurring the boundary between good humor and good taste -- and heating up the national controversy over Hollywood and young, impressionable minds. In fact, "South Park" made its mark despite stepped-up voluntary enforcement at some theaters of the R rating's regulations.

"You know, everyone asks us: 'Where's the line?'" says Trey Parker, co-creator of the Comedy Central "South Park" TV series. "You know, we don't think about that. We don't think, 'What is the line? And how can we cross it? And what group can we offend in this show?' You know, it really is just how we make each other laugh. This is our sense of humor."

Off-color humor helped propel Sandler's "Big Daddy" to more than $90 million at the box office in two weeks. Myers' "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" has snagged more than $170 million so far.

"People are really responding to those movies," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Inc. "I mean, 'Austin Powers' has its share of toilet humor. The new 'South Park' movie, it's off the chart as far as the raunchiness and the toilet humor. Raunchy humor sells."

SEX-DRIVEN TEEN FILMS

Select a film here "Cruel Intentions" "She's All That" "Varsity Blues" "American Pie" Stars: Jason Biggs, Chris Owen, Thomas DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker Plot: Four teen-age boys pledge to lose their virginity by prom night or die.

Films in the past have demonstrated the high appeal of lowbrow humor. "Blazing Saddles" from 1974 and "Animal House" from 1978, both hailed as comedy classics by fans, were rated R. More recent entries include the Farrelly Brothers' "Dumb & Dumber" (1994), "Kingpin" (1996), and "There's Something About Mary" (1998).

Ben Stiller -- immortalized as the high school senior whose penis is caught in his zipper before the prom in "There's Something About Mary" -- defends this brand of humor. He says it's fine as long as it's not malicious.

"We're basically making fun at our own expense," Stiller says.

Actor Jason Biggs knows something about what Stiller is saying. His role in "American Pie" has him doing some questionable things to an apple cobbler.

"It ran through my mind," he says, "like, 'Am I really going to do this?' But you know, it's one of those things that I knew that if I went for it, it would pay off on screen, and I think it did."

The bottom line: As long as low humor and sex attract audiences, filmmakers will continue to aim below the belt.