October 23, 2004

America, F**** Yeah!

Ok, so I'm getting over a really bad flu, I spent most of yesterday evening sleeping, I had a quick errand to run this morning, and I'm bored at 1:00 pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon. What's a boy to do?

Well, I went to see Team America: World Police, the latest cinematic offering from Trey Parker & Matt Stone, aka the South Park guys. In the words of Stan Marsh, dude, you have got to see this movie.

For a non-spoilerish review of the plot, click here - in my humble opinion, this is their best, all-out funny comedy since Orgazmo (when is this coming out on domestic DVD? Huh? ). It's a puppet-driven take-off of every lame action picture (and, by token, comic book movie) ever made.

The puppets, in a way, help give the movie a much sharper satirical edge than either real actors or animation - they are simultaneous real and phony, and allow the movie to take pot shots at such matters as terrorism, American imperialism, and liberal Hollywood sanctimoniousness. (There's even a vomit scene that rivals the Mr. Creosote sketch in Monty Python's Meaning of Life). Everything is over-the-top and offensive - including the skewering of such figures who have been friendly to Parker and Stone, such as George Clooney and Michael Moore - but that's half the fun of this movie. Much of it, like in earlier Parker/Stone efforts, is the music, which parodies every single musical form, from the hard rock anthem to - I kid you not - a song that simultaneously insults the Ben Affleck abomination Pearl Harbor and declares undying love to another person.

The Bush administration has publicly scolded this movie for not taking terrorism seriously - I suggest that, before you go to vote, you see this movie. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will see two puppets do obscene things to each other onscreen.

No comments: