The MPAA ratings are fundamentally out of step with American culture and entertainment.

Every teenager knows the "F" word, yet more than a fleeting use of it garners an R rating.

Pay cable is full of softcore erotica ("Skinemax")—yet the MPAA is so uptight about sex that your favorite episode of "Girls" or "Game of Thrones" would be NC-17 if released theatrically (really!).

There is an easy fix: the MPAA should create a "soft R"—let's call it PG-17—and use it solely for naughty language (as in raunchy comedies). Everything else that currently garners an R (violence, nudity, sex) would stay the same. 

Keep the NC-17 but use it solely for the one thing everyone knows HBO won't show—actual hardcore sex. (Kids can download that on their phones, anyway.)

Isn't this safe, simple and reasonable? Let the MPAA ratings reflect modern American society and offer clarity to parents, audiences and filmmakers.