SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT
A Film Review by Brian Takeshita
Rating: *** out of ****
You have probably heard that SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT is offensive. Well here's a little test. Just ask yourself the question, "Am I easily offended by anything, anything at all?" If you take more than three seconds to answer, this movie will probably offend you. For the rest of us, SOUTH PARK is a hilarious good time. Yeah, that's right, I liked the movie. For all its low-brow humor, I laughed almost all the way through.
The film finds gradeschoolers Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny excited at the imminent release of a movie version their favorite TV show, "Terrance and Phillip," which consists of the two title characters passing gas for half an hour every day. The kids march on over to the theater, only to be denied entrance because the film is (gasp!) rated R. Ever resourceful, they enlist a homeless guy to buy them tickets as their "guardian," and proceed to view the potty-humor-soaked Terrance and Phillip movie. What they soon find out is why the movie is rated R - Terrance and Phillip start swearing up such a storm as to make a stevedore blush. Of course, after the initial shock wears off, the kids love it and later go to school spreading the good words, prompting more kids to go and see the movie. Soon, nearly all the kids of the small mountain town of South Park are worshipping at the alter of the Terrance and Phillip movie, much to the chagrin of the town's adults. Mad as hell, Kyle's mom spearheads a movement to ban the film, which soon grows into a declaration of war against the country which Terrance and Phillip come from: Canada.
As I said, SOUTH PARK is potentially very offensive, as it contains a lot of swearing, graphic cartoon violence, and a bunch of sexual references which don't even try to couch themselves as innuendo. They're just out there. But if you can get past all that, you're in for a great time. The jokes come fast and furious, often catching you off guard, and although much of the humor is based on the fact that you're listening to "kids" spouting profanity, it might surprise you that some of it is actually quite sophisticated and satirical of the real world. Everything from history to current events to pop culture is given little barbs, including the likes of the French underground resistance, President Clinton, Bill Gates, and there's even a climactic battle between Satan, Saddam Hussein, and Cartman which draws not only upon RETURN OF THE JEDI, but also upon STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK.
Talk about satire, the whole set up with the Terrance and Phillip movie is basically a satire of the South Park movie itself. Think about it: A show on TV that's pretty profane as it is makes the jump to the big screen and with an R rating and just goes all out with the foul language. Kids have to sneak in because responsible parents wouldn't take them (never mind that at the screening I went to, there were several adolescents in the audience - maybe they found a homeless guy of their own), and an uproar about the offensiveness follows suit. Fairly insightful.
Additionally surprising is the fact that SOUTH PARK actually tackles the fairly heady topic of censorship. As Kyle's mom goes on her crusade and recruits the town and the nation into making scapegoats out of Terrance and Phillip, we see the development of a type of evil that we've seen in history and which could resurface if we're not careful. No, we're not given anything new or groundbreaking, and the message may be delivered in a somewhat ham-fisted manner, but you've got to give the filmmakers (and South Park creators) Trey Parker and Matt Stone credit for taking what could have been an hour and a half of meaningless guilty-pleasure laughs and actually imbuing it with meaning.
One of the delights of this film is that it's not just a movie, it's a musical! Yes, the South Park cast not only gets to shout vulgarities, but also sing them in several of the musical numbers. The songs are actually quite catchy and in fact better than many numbers from other "legitimate" musicals - Hey, not to be disrespectful, but "I Have Confidence" from THE SOUND OF MUSIC really could have been better. Accomplished screen composer Marc Shaiman, along with Trey Parker, skillfully presents us with stirring music, and even manages to weave several of the songs together in a rousing medley near the film's high point, displaying the composer's familiarity with the conventional musical and giving the film an added depth. The only problem was that I couldn't hear the lyrics in a lot of the big numbers, which I'm sure would have had me laughing even more.
Another drawback lies in the fact that if you're not familiar with the Comedy Central cartoon, you're probably not going to enjoy the movie as much, since it brings in characters and conventions from the show without taking the time to explain their significance or background. For example, South Park followers will cheer the appearance of Big Gay Al and his rendition of "I'm Super," but it's not going to mean a lot to others. On the other hand, the fact that Kenny gets killed and goes to hell is a major part of the plot, but it won't impair the enjoyment of those who don't know that Kenny gets killed in every episode of the series (expect maybe one). Suffice to say there's still a lot of comedy packed into SOUTH PARK for non-fans to come away laughing. Just remember what I said about asking yourself if you're easily offended.
Review posted July 20, 1999
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