South Park: Bigger, Longer Review
by Bob Bloom (bloom AT journal-courier DOT com)July 2nd, 1999
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Directed by Parker.
They will tell you it's only a cartoon. Wrong. It is more much more. It is an adult R-rated animated feature.
This 80-minute movie also is offensive, raw, uncouth, profane, raunchy, raucous, satiric and hilarious.
Going way beyond the restrictive bounds of television even for cable's Comedy Central South Park is a savage riff on parents, mores, morals, war, jingoism and patriotism.
Canadians, especially, will probably want to picket this movie.
Transferred from the small screen is that cute, crude group of kids, led by Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny.
The amazing aspect about the movie version of South Park is that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the series and writers of the film, have created a mirthful musical.
The movie contains about a dozen musical numbers, most of which spoof various musical movie and stage presentations.
The storyline is basic. The youngsters sneak into an R-rated movie starring their favorite performers, the potty-mouthed Canadians Terrence and Phillip. The profane-ridden movie influences the third-graders and the entire child population of South Park as the kids, after seeing the movie, develop mouths that constantly need to be washed out with soap.
Stan's mother goes on the warpath, and it leads to the arrest of the Canadian performers on The Conan O'Brien Show. (Conan is so distraught about his part in their capture that he commits suicide by jumping out the window of his NBC studio.)
Things escalate. Poor Kenny is again killed, and he is sent to hell. There, he uncovers a plot by Satan and his new lover, Saddam Hussein, to take over the world after the execution of Terrence and Phillip.
The Canadian air force retaliates by bombing the Baldwin mansion, killing the entire acting clan.
OK, even writing this sounds surreal. So let's wrap it up by saying Parker and Stone set out to offend and shock as many people as they can. That they succeed in doing.
It is in-your-face comedy and satire. This is a movie that will have no middle ground. People will either see it more than once or walk out before the finale.
No nation, religious group or ethnic group is spared Parker and Stone's barbs.
The movie is tasteless, but it is done in such an artful way that all you can do is applaud the audacity of Parker and Stone.
South Park is an original, the funniest film of the year.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected].
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