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Movie Review - Team America: World Police (2004)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Trey Parker |
| Starring: |
the voices of Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Daran Norris, Masasa, and Kristen Miller |
| Rated: |
R (for graphic, crude, and sexual humor, violent images, and strong language - all
involving puppets) |
| Length: |
105 minutes |
| Genre: |
Comedy/Satire |
| Tagline: |
Putting the "F" back in Freedom. |
| Studio: |
Paramount Pictures |
| Website: |
Team America |
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PLOT
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Marionette superheroes call on an actor to help them fight terrorism. Kim Jong Il has other plans and
enlists the help of Hollywood extremists to stop Team America's fight for justice. Abundant hilarity as
well as abundant over-the-line vulgarity ensue.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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It entertains! It offends! It repulses! And rumor has it that the edges of the DVD will be so sharp that
it'll slice and dice as well! But since I have a friend who claims people use DVDs as
nipple shields, then you probably don't want the DVD anywhere
near your food.
There were times when I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. In fact, I died for approximately 3 seconds
at one point. But then there were some scenes that caused me to long for a fast forward button. I'll break it
down for you.
If anybody deserves to be made fun of it's Hollywood extremists like Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn,
etc. who seem to think their opinions are the only ones that matter. Team America does a brilliant
job of showing how shallow and self-important these people really are. Why else would Penn send a tear-stained
letter to Parker and Stone about the movie? I love the scene mocking Penn's "fact finding" mission to Iraq.
He talks about seeing rainbows and children frolicking in chocolate rivers, hahaha. Beautiful.
Like the majority of Americans, Parker and Stone are obviously tired of these celebrities shoving their politics
down our collective throat. So what's their solution? Mock 'em, make 'em all part of the Film Actors Guild
(F.A.G.), and take 'em out with heavy artillery! I love when Alec Baldwin has been out-acted, and when called
on to respond he gets disheveled and starts mumbling, "Global warming ... corporate America..." And the only
thing Tim Robbins knows how to do is blame everything on corporations doing "coporationey" things.
Oh, and if you've ever wanted to see "the socialist weasel" Michael Moore blown up, then there's something here
for you.
The parody songs are pretty funny too. A couple of 'em are too vulgar for my tastes, but the Montage
song is brilliant. There's another one mocking Ben Affleck and Michael Bay for missing the whole point of
Pearl Harbor. And I think my favorite is the great country parody asking what you would do if freedom
wasn't free. My sides hurt during that one. It's about time somebody mocked cheesy Alan Jackson-esque country
songs. The man wrote a song with the lyrics, "I'm not a real political man. I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can
tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran." Come on, that's just gay.
There's a lot more to laugh at as well: some Star Wars parody, the repeated use of the word "jihad,"
the musical production of "Everybody Has AIDS," and the puppets, which are used to GREAT effect.
The South Park boys do an excellent job of mocking a litany of big budget action movie cliches from the
cheesy one-liners ("Hey terrorist, terrorize this!") to the inevitable soul-baring scene of one of the
antagonists. But then there's the dark side, the point where the movie starts to lose focus.
Call me old-fashioned, boy scout, choir boy, whatever, but I can do without scenes involving implied homosexual
puppet activity that is referred to for the next 20 minutes. It's just not very clever, and it's an obvious
attempt at seeing how far over the line they can go. I was made even more uncomfortable by the fact that a
10-year-old was sitting a couple seats away from me. Parents, PLEASE leave your children at home if you go
see this.
I know you've heard about it, so I'll address it: there's a scene that lasts for about a minute or two featuring
puppets in every possible sexual position you can imagine. I had heard it had been heavily edited, so I was pretty
shocked by what actually made the final cut. I thought to myself, "If that's what made it in the movie, what on
earth got cut???" I was told after the movie that an additional two minutes had been trimmed. I know this scene
won't bother some people, but it's just not my kind of humor.
So all in all I'm gonna have to go middle-of-the-road on this one. It's half brilliant satire and half "let's
see how vulgar we can get" humor. The satire worked for me, but the intentionally obvious vulgarity didn't.
That's the big disappointment. The first half of the movie is set up brilliantly, but then it felt like they
rubbed their hands together, laughed maniacally and said, "All right, time to get nasty!" I know, I know,
it's their trademark. But it just seems so unnecessary.
The funny stuff is absolutely hilarious. If they had stuck to the political satire and making fun of
Hollywood extremists, then this could've been a 4 mark movie. But it's obvious that Parker and Stone were
intent on seeing how far over the edge they could go. Whenever the movie started going off into
expletive-filled, sexual tangents is when I became detached. I just feel that shows a lack of creativity
and originality. I'm sure it's stuff that'll appeal to their hardcore fans, but it just seemed forced and
not very clever. It's pretty obvious that they're saying, "Hey, look at how much of a headache we can give
the MPAA!" Your tolerance may vary.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Matt Stone and Trey Parker initially got the idea for Team America in 2003 while they were watching
reruns of Thunderbirds (1964). They decided an action film featuring a bunch of puppets would be "the perfect
way to send up all those Jerry Bruckheimer movies."
- Parker and Stone originally planned on doing an all-puppet version of The
Day After Tomorrow. After reading the script, they thought the movie was laughable and thought it could
be made even funnier with the use of puppets. Legal issues kept the idea from coming to fruition.
- Parker and Stone showed the first footage of the movie at the 2004 San Diego Comic Convention, using the
following tagline: "George Clooney, Janeane Garofalo, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, Michael Moore,
George W. Bush, John Kerry, 'Kim Jong Il' .... will all HATE this movie!"
- The movie was originally given an NC-17 Rating by the MPAA. It was reduced to an R after the puppet sex scene
was edited.
- Sean Penn wrote an angry letter to Stone and Parker because he wasn't too happy about this movie
or its satirical depiction of him. Johnny Betts thinks Sean Penn is a big crybaby who really needs to get over
himself.
- Kristen Miller was in Cherry Falls with Brittany Murphy who was in Phoenix with Jeremy Piven
who was in Kiss the Girls with Jay O. Sanders who was on an episode of The Young Riders with Josh
Brolin who was in The Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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If I had to create a list of the Top 5 Most Uncomfortable Movies to Watch With My Mom, this would definitely
make the top of the list. I know a lot of parents don't pay attention to ratings. So their kids will ask to
see this movie, parents will think, "Oh how cute, a puppet movie, no problem," and they'll let their kids see
it. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. I can definitely see why Team America barely managed to avoid an
NC-17 rating. The "puppet sex" scene will have more than a few people squirming, as will a certain sexual
analogy that is used TWICE.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer is a great representation of the satirical aspect of the movie, but it gives you absolutely
no indication of how obscene it will get.
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THE GIST
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I'll give Matt Stone and Trey Parker credit - they're willing to offend anyone, and they're not shy about it.
Team America: World Police works best when it's specifically targeting celebrities and their social causes,
action movie cliches, and bad country songs. Unfortunately, the movie lost me when it shifted into the "let's
start dropping f-bombs and explicit sexual analogies to see how extreme of a reaction we can get" mentality.
If you're the type of person who has no shame and isn't offended by anything, then this won't bother you. But
if you have *any* reservations about the material, then it'd be best for you to wait for one of your shameless
friends to get the DVD and fast forward through the vulgarity.
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