MPAA appeal?

I think in this case they just appealed the rating without changing anything - sometimes, if the rating board finds that the film has certain merits (not sure what their criteria are), they will reduce the rating without requiring alterations to be made. Gunner Palace went from an R to a PG-13 without having to remove any of the numerous F-bombs, while All the President's Men went from an R to a PG in the same manner (the latter had significantly fewer F-bombs, though, and the MPAA only reduced the rating after numerous experts testified as to the educational merits of the film; the ratings board eventually noted that, since the film had no sex, nudity, or violence, the strong language was really the only thing that was keeping it from getting a G rating, and thus granted it one step down from R - which, at the time, was PG).

A lot of movies have actually been successfully appealed - Tootsie, A Bridge Too Far, The Front, Reds, Sixteen Candles, Terms of Endearment, and Mommie Dearest all were rated R based on using the F-word, but were released uncut with a PG after appealing the decisions. I think a lot of the successful appeals for unrestricted ratings come for movies that have just a little too much strong language (i.e. one use of "motherf..." or more than one F-bomb in an otherwise PG-13 film, which almost always causes the MPAA to assign an automatic R). I don't think that films with graphic violence (even just blood spray), nudity, graphic sex, and excessive/overly strong (C-bomb) profanity are usually able to successfully appeal R ratings without editing the film (Lakeview Terrace was released within the past few years, though, and it had two audible F-bombs spoken in a calm manner in the same scene, as well as brief blood spray/mist, and I don't believe it was ever rated R, oddly enough, so it is a bit hit-or-miss).