I remember walking thru the times square district in NYC. I seen massive billboards for 'Rated X', including a building covered nearly in half with a huge poster type. Including the commercials played over and over. Yeah, it was 'hyped' up at the time, it actually caught my attention. What caught my attention is based on a 'true story' and also the actors/true life brothers. Always enjoyed them acting together.It's your typical movie..get success/money, drugs and addiction, greed, fighting among each other, and eventually murder. However it's a refreshing story line with great acting by great actors. Other users comment says who cares about the porn industry. True, but I didn't see this movie because of 'porn'. I watched it because it was based on the true lives of 2 brothers which spiraled apart due to greed, different visions and drugs. Nevertheless it was a great story.Should serve as a reminder to entrepreneurs entering a dark fast paced market, porn, drugs, etc.. greed/drugs/money will usually get the best of you and tear you apart from the very people you first started out with.8-9 rating for good story and great acting.

This movie is a representation of James Mitchell's Justification for for first degree murder of Artie Mitchell. Artie was not murdered because he had a drug problem. Artie was murdered as a power move for his brother to take control of all the brothers finances. This movie was awful because it helped a murderer look good while depicting the deceased as a wild crazed lunatic. Personal I feel Artie Mitchell's character better resembled a mixture between James and Karen's personalities. This movie seemed to be an accurate representation of the utter chaos in the last two weeks of Art's life. This movie was based on a story written by David Mccumber who wrote a Rated X based on the testimonials of Artie's Ex-Girlfriends, his mother and his murderer. I Caleb Mitchell feel slandered but apparently my dad was a public figure, so anyone can say anything, it doesn't matter

This film kind of is Emilio Estevez' comeback after a dreadfully slow decade of kiddies' stuff and inferior TV-productions. Estevez and his brother Charlie Sheen portray the Mitchell brothers, Jim and Arnie. From the early 70's until the early 90's these boys ruled the Californian porn industry and opened their own San Franciscan nudie theater and strip club. As usual in this type of biopic films, we first get to see a whole series of highlights (like their big breakthrough porn film 'Beyond the Green Door') before the 'drama' kicks in. Both brothers put industrial amounts of dope up their noses and their relationships all go to hell. This isn't an immensely impressive film because you've all seen it before – slightly better – in epics like 'Boogie Nights' or even 'The People vs. Larry Flint'. Still it's worthwhile thanks to the performances of Estevez, Sheen and a few members of the supportive cast like Terry O'Quin (The Stepfather) as Mitchell senior. If you're a fan of Sheen or Estevez (or both) this is definitely worth a peek. They both look deliciously rancid. Not highly memorable, but amusing while it lasts…which is a bit too long by the way.

This is one of the many films in the series that materializes America's fascination with its own sub-culture - violence, drugs, pornography - all coming closer to mainstream in the complex American landscape of the 70's and 80's. It's well done and acted, and I liked it. The true story of the Mitchell brothers, pioneers of porn and live nude shows in San Francisco is told in a linear manner, without too many stuff like 'free speech' justification, as in 'Larry Flint'. The Mitchell guys consider their business just a business, and are not concerned at any point with its human or moral implications. The relationship between the brothers is the central theme, and it is well rendered by the two main actors - Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez (who is also directing). Some more logic in the script would have made a memorable movie. Some of the familiar relations, or the Mafia involvement seem to be just lost in the action. It is however a good film, and I am amazed by the negative comments of other viewers in IMDb, and by the lack of more critical feedback. Maybe the theme is still hard to digest for the American critics, I do not know. An 8/10 on my scale.