Trey Parker and Matt Stone are two funny, funny, funny, (very sick), funny guys. It wasn’t enough for them to star in a David Zucker film that mocks the national sports scene and then turn their still-strong legacy of South Park into a movie that makes fun of everybody’s favorite dictator (Saddam Hussein). Oh no. They had to go and comment on the post-9/11 world in a movie that provides laughs on the scale of 9/11 times 1,000. That’s right…911,000 laughs. Or as Kim-Jong-Il says, 9/11 times 256,342 which is…my God, I don’t even know how much that is. No one does! HAHAHAHAHA!
Anyways, back to the review. This movie really takes the art of puppeteers and the genre of political satire to a whole new level. I mean, political satire has always been done through comedy, but never comedy this absurd. And if you look through all that, there’s a really poignant theme that defines the nature of modern humanity. But enough about the really serious stuff…let’s talk about the laughs. Within the first five minutes, the team has destroyed France, but at the cost of one of their team members (who looked curiously like Jonathon Frakes to me). Then it’s off to New York for the finale of Lease: The Musical. As the movie continues, one can only wonder how much research went into the creation of the film. The references measure from the obscure to the bizarre, and I didn’t even get them all. Especially be on the look out for Star Wars music and quotes because these guys love their Star Wars*. But suffice to say, this movie is fully loaded.
The politics that help define the satire is something the creators even claim to hate. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Matt and Trey said that if people change their vote based on this movie or a Michael Moore movie, then they should be eliminated from the gene pool in the most violent way imaginable. Looking at the movie, one might say that it’s right-wing propaganda (just like how anybody with a brain would call Moore’s movies pinko-commie propaganda) but it goes deeper than that. It’s political satire that’s “less about the politics and more about [the] emotions [that] Americans have gone through since 9/11, or even before” (Rolling Stone Interview). But with the glorious deaths and explosions of many out-spoken liberals (including the glorious destruction of Mount Rushmore, the team’s HQ, by a suicidal Michael Moore), the movie definitely reflects male Republican viewpoints. Not that that’s a bad thing either. It makes for wonderful entertainment that doesn’t affect my vote.
In conclusion, if you like puppet sex, vomit, blood, gore (not Al) and putting the “f” back in freedom, this movie is for you!
*See the episode of South Park in which the boys attempt to prevent the digital re-mastering (and editing) of Raiders of the Lost Ark.