Vulgarity Has Brains Behind It

by Jason R. Hewlett

The fact that an animated movie about foul mouthed kids can be better than any dimwitted shagging spy is pretty surprising to me. I slammed the Austin Powers sequel because it was brainless and full of gross-out humor. Now along comes the feature length version of the popular, non-kiddie cartoon "South Park" which is loaded with foul language and shock-value humor. One would think that it would be as bad as, or if not worse than, "The Spy Who shagged Me" but it isn't. Actually, it's a whole lot funnier and smarter.

The film itself if actually self mocking. The gang of Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman sneak into an NC-17 foreign film (made in Canada) and start imitating the foul deeds they see on screen. As a result, censorship in the United States goes overboard and war is declared on Canada.

The fact that "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" almost received an NC-17 rating itself because of the crude goings on within the film lends one to figure that creators, writers, and directors Trey Parker and Matt Stone are pretty aware of what they are doing and what envelopes to push.

Most importantly though they know how to write humor. Crude or otherwise the jokes work most of the time and I laughed harder and longer than I would during a dozen Austin Powers or Adam Sandler films. There's a subplot involving Kenny, who has died and gone to hell, acting as a relationship councilor between a gay Satan and his lover, Saddam Hussein, which is smartly put together. Also clever is the witty social commentary revolving around censorship and how overboard people go about the content found in our entertainment. Instead of parents just trying to be better parents they decide to lay the blame on external sources like the media. I'm not saying the film is preachy, it's anything but. It does have a brain behind it though...however twisted and warped that brain may be!

The film does have a few flaws though. Anytime one translates a T.V. product to the big screen there is a bit of a hiccup. In this case taking a thirty minute "sitcom" and making it a full hour and a half is stretching the content a bit too far. Things begin to run out of steam about half way through the movie and never fully bounce back. Also a hindrance is the fact that the film is a musical. I have a personal biased against musicals. Any time a film throws in a song the story just grinds to a halt. Every musical I've seen is that way and the problem is here as well. One song...maybe. Two songs...pushing it. A half dozen...no way!

Overall, though, "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" is probably one the best comedy to come along this year and the fact that it's a crudely animated film about foul mouthed children makes that all the more surprising.

7.5 out of 10!