South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut ««½
R, 81m. 1999
Featuring the voices of Trey Parker, Matthew Stone, Isaac Hayes, George Clooney, Minnie Driver, Mike Judge, and Eric Idle. Screenplay by Trey Parker, Matthew Stone, and Pam Brady. Directed by Trey Parker.
I remember back in grade school how some of my teachers would tell us how we shouldn’t imitate what we see in the movies or on network television. They especially made note of comedy shorts like The Three Stooges and those classic Warner Brothers cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner.
Since we were around ten or eleven years old at the time, my teachers assumed our parents didn’t let us watch R rated movies unless they were in the room with us.
Just because Moe uses a saw on Curly’s head that ruins the saw's sharp edges and the Road Runner drops an anvil on the Tazmanian Devil doesn’t mean in real life that people won’t get seriously injured or killed.
The parents, teachers, and the school principal aren’t murdered by the foul-mouthed disrespectful tykes in the animated movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. They are just offended by the dirty language the kids, notably the four main characters, Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny learned sneaking in to see the R rated “Asses of Fire”, a Canadian film starring Terrence and Philip.
The two stars do nothing but pass gas, attempt to light themselves on fire as they pass gas, call each other anything from “shitfaced cockmasters” to “pigfuckers”, and often burst into song saying, “Shut your fucking face, Uncle Fucker.”
The film is based on the popular half hour television series on Comedy Central. It is like an R rated version of a half hour Charlie Brown special. I have never seen a single episode and after seeing the longer movie version of the series, I doubt I ever will. Whether the picture is as offensive as the cable TV show will have to be left up to the fans to decide.
What’s unique and often humorous about South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is the way it mocks how parents and society react to what Hollywood makes. The film’s first thirty minutes addresses whether or not the offensive language or violence children see in the movies and on television causes them to mimic what they’ve just watched. That alone would have made for a great half hour episode.
The joke, however, is spread thin close to ninety minutes by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as the film is weighed down by additional subplots. One has Kenny going to Hell where he meets Satan, whose room has a portrait of Scream (1996) actor Skeet Ulrich above his bed. Satan sees the fall of Terrence and Philip as one of the final prophecies in which he will come back to rule Earth. His plans, however, are constantly being put off by his homosexual partner and recently deceased Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who wants to do nothing but “fuck.”
The other has a parental group who call themselves “Mothers Against Canada” who protest against Terrence and Philip and ultimately start a war between the United States and Canada. The group is obviously a metaphor for society blaming Hollywood for all the mass shootings in our nation’s schools.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ought to have the phrase on its poster, “Guaranteed to offend.” There are absolutely no real life figures mentioned in the movie who are safe from ridicule or death. Bill Gates, Saddam Hussein, Winona Ryder, late night talk show host Conan O’Brien, Alec Baldwin and his brothers take a particularly mean spirited beating. By the time you see a giant talking clitoris in a forest giving Kenny advice, you just know this isn’t Kansas.
The first time I saw it at theaters, I laughed at such mock references of NBC’s ER in which George Clooney plays a doctor who tries and fails to save Kenny’s life after the mumbled tyke lit himself on fire in an attempt to mimic Terrence and Philip passing gas. (Faithful viewers have told me Kenny dies in just about every episode but comes back to life before the show is over).
I enjoyed the songs, which were cleverly written and inventive. Imagine Saddam Hussein singing, “I can change” and Satan singing how he wishes he was in Heaven. There is even a song about what words you should use in place of “shit” and “fuck.” I wouldn’t be surprised if Parker and Stone watched such musicals as West Side Story (1961) and the works of Rogers and Hammerstein before composing their own lyrics.
What troubled me though was the language and I didn’t understand what it was the audience found so funny. I may have found such colorful words humorous when I was in grade school but not now. When I saw it alone the second time a few months later on digital video disc, I found the movie grows on you enough to the point where it isn’t nearly as offensive the second time around.
The problem though is once South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut gets past the plot about the Terrence and Philip movie, the picture plays like the “dead air” you might hear when picking up the telephone and no one on the other end answers.
You sit and wait for someone to say something. When you finally do, it is either funny or just downright offensive. It’s a lot like getting a prank phone call.
©2/20/2000
R, 81m. 1999
Featuring the voices of Trey Parker, Matthew Stone, Isaac Hayes, George Clooney, Minnie Driver, Mike Judge, and Eric Idle. Screenplay by Trey Parker, Matthew Stone, and Pam Brady. Directed by Trey Parker.
Since we were around ten or eleven years old at the time, my teachers assumed our parents didn’t let us watch R rated movies unless they were in the room with us.
Just because Moe uses a saw on Curly’s head that ruins the saw's sharp edges and the Road Runner drops an anvil on the Tazmanian Devil doesn’t mean in real life that people won’t get seriously injured or killed.
The parents, teachers, and the school principal aren’t murdered by the foul-mouthed disrespectful tykes in the animated movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. They are just offended by the dirty language the kids, notably the four main characters, Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny learned sneaking in to see the R rated “Asses of Fire”, a Canadian film starring Terrence and Philip.
The two stars do nothing but pass gas, attempt to light themselves on fire as they pass gas, call each other anything from “shitfaced cockmasters” to “pigfuckers”, and often burst into song saying, “Shut your fucking face, Uncle Fucker.”
The film is based on the popular half hour television series on Comedy Central. It is like an R rated version of a half hour Charlie Brown special. I have never seen a single episode and after seeing the longer movie version of the series, I doubt I ever will. Whether the picture is as offensive as the cable TV show will have to be left up to the fans to decide.
What’s unique and often humorous about South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is the way it mocks how parents and society react to what Hollywood makes. The film’s first thirty minutes addresses whether or not the offensive language or violence children see in the movies and on television causes them to mimic what they’ve just watched. That alone would have made for a great half hour episode.
The joke, however, is spread thin close to ninety minutes by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as the film is weighed down by additional subplots. One has Kenny going to Hell where he meets Satan, whose room has a portrait of Scream (1996) actor Skeet Ulrich above his bed. Satan sees the fall of Terrence and Philip as one of the final prophecies in which he will come back to rule Earth. His plans, however, are constantly being put off by his homosexual partner and recently deceased Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who wants to do nothing but “fuck.”
The other has a parental group who call themselves “Mothers Against Canada” who protest against Terrence and Philip and ultimately start a war between the United States and Canada. The group is obviously a metaphor for society blaming Hollywood for all the mass shootings in our nation’s schools.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ought to have the phrase on its poster, “Guaranteed to offend.” There are absolutely no real life figures mentioned in the movie who are safe from ridicule or death. Bill Gates, Saddam Hussein, Winona Ryder, late night talk show host Conan O’Brien, Alec Baldwin and his brothers take a particularly mean spirited beating. By the time you see a giant talking clitoris in a forest giving Kenny advice, you just know this isn’t Kansas.
The first time I saw it at theaters, I laughed at such mock references of NBC’s ER in which George Clooney plays a doctor who tries and fails to save Kenny’s life after the mumbled tyke lit himself on fire in an attempt to mimic Terrence and Philip passing gas. (Faithful viewers have told me Kenny dies in just about every episode but comes back to life before the show is over).
I enjoyed the songs, which were cleverly written and inventive. Imagine Saddam Hussein singing, “I can change” and Satan singing how he wishes he was in Heaven. There is even a song about what words you should use in place of “shit” and “fuck.” I wouldn’t be surprised if Parker and Stone watched such musicals as West Side Story (1961) and the works of Rogers and Hammerstein before composing their own lyrics.
What troubled me though was the language and I didn’t understand what it was the audience found so funny. I may have found such colorful words humorous when I was in grade school but not now. When I saw it alone the second time a few months later on digital video disc, I found the movie grows on you enough to the point where it isn’t nearly as offensive the second time around.
The problem though is once South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut gets past the plot about the Terrence and Philip movie, the picture plays like the “dead air” you might hear when picking up the telephone and no one on the other end answers.
You sit and wait for someone to say something. When you finally do, it is either funny or just downright offensive. It’s a lot like getting a prank phone call.
©2/20/2000
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