Team America: World Police

[jayctravis]

Okay, I know this movie isn't real popular here, but I just finished seeing it and feel it merits discussion. Yes there are things that will piss you off. I don't get offended by South Park humor and there are things that made me squirm a bit. I'll spoil the movie, but I'm sure there are people who won't see it on principle so it should be okay.

First off, the movie is a massive technical achievement. There are sets and scenes that are literally breathtaking with what would seem to be no CGI. The puppets are amazingly expressive and the artists manage to pull off things that absolutely shouldn't work...the way a marionette's arms fall or the head twists. You see the strings, but the performance worked out of these tiny blocks of foam is incredible. It's a hyperrealistic "it's a small world" gone wrong. There are parts nearly on the level Jim Henson achieved is some of his greatest works. But this is a comedy, and we're in on the joke. So there is puppet-mangling and moments where the characters are aware of their marionette limitations. My favorite physical gag in the movie is the "subtle" signal one character is to give at a crucial time where they've somehow made the puppet spasm hilariously.

Okay, the stuff people will probably be mad at: Yes, there are a large group of "Hollywood" anti-Team America characters modelled on real people. They are gruesomely dispatched in the penultimate action sequence. I'm getting ahead of myself.

Team America is a vacuous superhero squad that obliterates major world cities and landmarks in search of a handful of terrorists who seem to be scattered across the globe. They are blithely unaware of the destruction and mayhem they cause, woohooing and high-fiving a successful mission. Their information comes from a supercomputer called I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. in their "batcave" housed in Mount Rushmore.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-Il is off his dotty rocker. Hans Blix comes to inspect for WMD's, threatening that if he's not allowed to inspect, that the UN will "write a long letter." He is dispatched in a shark tank. Because KJ-I is lonely and sad (the movie hypothesizes in one of its overblown musical segments) he is the actual mastermind spreading terrorists around the world with WMD to await his ultimate plan.

Ridiculously funny action sequences ensue. One team member is killed right after he proposes to the blond herone of Team America, so his place is taken by an actor whom the team intends to use to "act like a terrorist." A Jerry Bruckheimer-esque doomed love affair blooms with the heroine making him promise not to die. He can't promise that until she says that's what would make her sleep with him. Cue marionette sex sequence.

Team America swoop in after another group of terrorists, but I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E is wrong and they hit the wrong target, culminating in the destruction of the Panama Canal with an EMPIRE OF THE SUN scene of floating dead puppet bodies (and what seems to be the entire rest of the broken flooded set along with them.) The actor blames himself, and quits Team America. Meanwhile the group of Hollywood liberals assembles and decides to protest and stop Team America from destroying everything. A Michael Moore puppet is pretty much there simply to carry a suicide bomb into the Mount Rushmore headquarters, destroying it.

Parker and Stone often do this on South Park. It's their signature shock tactic to introduce someone familiar and then obliterate them gruesomely, or use them in a way that is meant to leave your jaw on the floor. Mecha-Streisand from the series comes to mind, they've also done this to Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and the ping-pong balls... I know I'm not going to get any support on this, but I can't imagine Michael Moore pulling on a suicide bomb vest. Before I saw the movie, I hypothesized that the tone of it would be that of what an out-of-control right wing media would make as a brainwashing children's show. (Well, minus the puppet sex, and five minute vomiting scene...) Anyway. In that mindset, what Michael Moore does could be interpreted on their side to be as fanatical as what a suicide bomber does in their own way. I do see how the metaphor could be lost on someone, and this is the part that made me squirm. But I understand what they're going for.

As part of KJ-I's master plot, he plans a "peace convention" to get all the world leaders in one place while he sets off the WMD he has strewn across the earth by unwitting and subservient terrorists. Team America is down one member, so they lose a dramatic air/sea/sub/motorcycle battle during which they argue about who is dating whom. It's a great scene. KJ-I captures them and since the liberals think TA are the bad guys they are only to happy to guard them in the torture chamber. The actor/lead character goes on a bender and learns the "dick/pussy/asshole" philosophy from a drunk man which I will soon try to paraphrase for you. Cue five minute vomiting sequence.

Oh...one for our side, there is a fantastic parody of an annoying patriotic country song, set to a republican montage of the puppet gazing at actual historical landmarks...the vietnam veterans memorial, Iwo Jima... Sacrilege, but this time very much hitting THEM instead of us. It looks like a Bush campaign commercial. I also just realized I don't remember ever hearing the words "Democrat" or "Republican" mentioned at all during this movie. There's the overzealous representation of the ho-ha "let's clean up the terrarists" in Team America, and the overzealous generalization of what the right wing would call "the liberal hollywood elite" and the normal people who get hurt during all the destruction as both sides fight.

Anyway, the Actor returns to save Team America from KJ-I's lavish presentation at which the appearance of Alec Baldwin will cue the destruction...after the obligatory five minute countdown timer. The blond heroine is of course held hostage to hear KJ-I's denouement. The actor frees Team America and they obliterate every hollywood icon in the movie. Yes. Helen Hunt is vivisected, Susan Sarandon is thrown off a building, Tim Robbins is burned alive. In this fictional world, they have become Kim Jong-Il's henchmen, and are dispatched in typical action-movie fashion. Yes, it's squeamish, but only because we *sympathize* with them whereas in every other action movie TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE parodies, we don't care about the extras who are there only to be dispatched by the good guys. It made sense to me.

So the actor finally has to go onstage and essentially "debate" Alec Baldwin who is "the best actor ever". No one beats him. Who does that sound like? TA wins with the Dick/Pussy/Asshole philosophy, which I hope I paraphrase correctly. Essentially regarding Team America: "Yes, we're arrogant Dicks!" But some of us are Pussies. And Dicks usually fuck the Pussies. And they get angry at each other but usually tend to get along. But then some people are Assholes who simply shit all over everything. And Dicks usually fuck Pussies, but they can also fuck Assholes...

Or something like that. Anyway, we're all pretty unpleasant, but the point is we would LOVE to be the World Police and defend everybody and swoop down like superheroes, but we don't always get it right. Hopefully we aren't always Dicks, and we can't always be Pussies either. But the thing we most need to avoid is becoming Assholes--which in the past four years we have edged dangerously closer to becoming.

Soapbox off. Kim Jong-Il is kicked off the balcony and lands on the German dignitary's spiked helmet. The timer is stopped ("Just hit the cancel button!") and the movie wraps up like the action movie it purports to be.

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie. It wasn't *quite* as good as the South Park movie, but very admirable in its own right.

oookay. flame away... I'm not a freeper, I swear I'm voting for Kerry.

[girl gone mad]

1. Thanks for the lengthy review.

I'm so busy, I know I won't get a chance to go to a movie until at least after the election, though I'm not sure I would want to see Team America in the theater. Maybe I'll rent it when it comes out on DVD.

I can pretty much take or leave Southpark. I do completely understand why Parker and Stone are mad at Michael Moore, though. I think I would feel the same way.

[GRLMGC]

22. Why are they mad

exactly?

[dorktv]

2. That movie is great and I can see their point on actors

but they need to qualify it. Actors who know nothing should keep their mouth's shut but those who DO learn about the issues can blab all they want.

[jdj]

4. Damn, I deliver toilet paper, so I guess I should keep my mouth

shut too.

Yeah, let's everybody keep our mouths shut. Yeah, let's everybody just not vote, we're not even as qualified as the actors, and if they aren't qualified, then I KNOW none of us are, we are just peons.

Yes, let's just shut up and let Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity do all the talking. They are qualified because...because..well, for some reason I can't remember.

Oh, yeah, because they say they are.

Let's just all not vote, and then Parker and Stone will get ANOTHER tax cut, and get to keep their dividends off the capital gains tax that Bush rescinded, and all that really important stuff that poor people like us are so LUCKY not to have to worry about. Parker and Stone are so right, and they love us so much they even used a puppet show to convey their message down to us so we wouldn't get all confused and start thinking crazy thoughts. And to think I thought no one cared.

[Rich Hunt]

18. a lot of celebrities don't get it

They take themselves way too seriously and get overly offended when they're lampooned. The thing is, none of those cartoon characters bear any resemblance to the real celebrities.

[Cha]

29. Yeah! The ones who are

bush supporters don't "GET IT" and the Kerry supporters do.

[RaleighNCDUer]

52. Isn't it amazing how all our celebrities are brilliant,

and all their's are idiots?

Of course, we are all brilliant and they are all idiots, so I guess it would stand to reason.

[leesa]

40. Agreed. Reagan should have kept his mouth shut

and certainly the girlie-man Ahnode should keep his trap shut.

[fearnobush]

3. No flames, I can't wait to see it. These guys let it all hang out.

<>

[natrat]

33. these 2 really suck

and i would not support anything they do ...Read an interview w/ them today and the jist of it was our lives are so good and what else could matter. Fuck them , fuck there stupid movie

[pgreenstone]

5. I liked it too

The thing some have to understand is that those guys make fun of EVERYBODY. There were some things about the film that made me squirm a bit at times. But the thing is they're just fucking with us; it's what they do and they're doing it to the other side just the same. It's important to have enough of a sense of humor about oneself to be able to laugh even when you are a bit offended. I laughed my ass off.

[Ladyhawk]

7. OK, I gotta weigh in.

The creators of South Park have always, always, always been equal-opportunity offenders. They fuck with everyone. I don't always agree with what they have to say, but they do deliver edgy comedy. Except for a very few episodes, I'm pretty sure they gave equal time to offending people on every side of an issue.

Since I grew up fundy, the South Park movie was so over-the-top for me that I instantly loved it. (Yeah, I'm sort of going through a late rebellious stage.) I even made sure my nephew saw it so he doesn't go through life as a prude like his mother. Shoot me.

[soundfury]

19. No, they didnÕt.

((( I'm pretty sure they gave equal time to offending people on every side of an issue. )))

There are no conservative jokes or personality that are made fun of,
only liberals are made fun of in this movie.

DonÕt give your money and support this crap.

The movie isnÕt funny, itÕs just crude.

If you must see it, pay for a Motorcycle Diaries ticket and sneak into Team America,
thatÕs what I did.

Liberals should not financially support this movie.

[HuckleB]

47. Baloney.

It's been clear from the start that they go after the "left wing" far more than the "wingnuts." And this "tendency" has only become more pronounced with time -- the new film being incredibly, blatantly pro-right wingnut in every way.

Yet, they try to have it both ways by pretending that they're not Republican, even though it's come out a number of times in the past.

If we can't recognize right wing propaganda, we're in big trouble.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

44. I haven't seen the movie yet., but I want to.

I won't be able to see it until it comes out on video. I have a toddler, so I don't ever go to the cinema any more.

I agree with your comments about the South Park guys (whatever their names are). They try to make jokes about everyone. I think that's fair. I've always liked their stuff. I imagine this movie will be really funny. I love the cheesy puppets!

[Blue_Tires]

6. you may want to put *spoilers* in the thread title

as not to give away too much

[natrat]

34. give away all of it

[TrogL]

8. The CBC reviewed it today and said pretty much the same thing

"It's an equal opportunity for everybody, left or right, to get offended".

[soundfury]

20. Bullshit, no Conservative personalities are made fun of in the film.

Only Liberal personalities are made fun of in the film.

Liberals should not financially support this movie.

[immoderate]

38. A team that goes around and blows up whatever...

...it thinks might be terrorist without asking questions, and you think it doesn't make fun of conservatives?

Killing all the Hollywood personalities doesn't give you a clue?

--IMM

[Julien Sorel]

43. The Hollywood people are portrayed

as such ideologues that killing them is somehow a good thing.

And the Team America people blow everything up, but it really falls flat. They take out the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre at the beginning of the film, and say something like, "OK, we took out some terrorists," and give each other puppet high fives or whatever. Then it cuts to a picture of French people looking at the fallen Tower and the rubble of the Louvre with blank expressions. People in the theater laughed, but it was almost an ugly laugh -- they "got it," but didn't care. In today's America, blowing up Paris would be fine as long as it was in pursuit of "WMDs;" look at Iraq.

You can read between the lines and see some anti-zealous conservative points in the film, but you have to read between the lines, whereas the anti-liberal stuff is overt, and reinforces stereotypical images, making it even more powerful.

I added the word "zealous" above intentionally, because the overall implication of the film is that conservatism, "being a dick," is fine, it just gets out of control sometimes -- but that's the price you have to pay for being tough. There is no corresponding saving allowance for liberalism. The liberals in this film are unrelentingly portrayed as dishonest and foolish, stereotypical "useful idiots." The film even has a brief moment mocking global warming.

I've seen a few people say the movie is an indictment of the war on terror, but you have to be watching it through a really interesting filter to walk away with that impression. Above all, this film was made to make people laugh, but the social/political message in it, while alloyed, is largely anti-liberal in nature.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

57. Sheesh. This line has been repeated so much it's starting to sound like a

RW catchphrase like "partial birth abortion", or "liberal media".

Me, I'll pass. Maybe if I'm curious I'll rent the DVD when it's gathering dust in the bomb shelf along with Waterworld, Gigli, and Ishtar.

[Sven77]

9. this movie looks hilarious

i cant wait to see it. reading about politics everyday can be so depressing, i look forward to some humor.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372588/

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/team_america/

[GliderGuider]

10. We saw it last night, we all practically pissed ourselves laughing

For someone brought up on George Carlin's brand of equal-opportunity offensiveness, The Simpsons and South Park, it was a total hoot. I went with my girlfriend and her two daughters - 17 and 13 - and everybody came out hyperventilating with both thumbs up.

GF and I got all the subtler references and the political side of it, while the kids mostly got off on the action and the language. We all thought the production values were great, we loved the scene with the "panthers", the marionette sex, the puking scene, Hans Blix in the shark tank and the rest of the graphic violence.

On the subject of the F.A.G.s, the point of the movie is puncturing pomposity, and they do it to everyone - from claims of "bad I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E." to Susan Sarandon's acting skills fading with age.

We all take ourselves too seriously, and this movie was a refreshing gust of wind under the blankets. Eight thumbs up from this household.

[jayctravis]

11. kick for daytime n/t

[JHB]

12. ALMOST equal-opportunity offenders

I saw it today.

I would guess it's because TV and radio pundits just don't seem to be part of theses giuys world, but what's missing from this movie is some group composed of named conservatives blowhards (named C.O.W.A.R.D. or something) who aid and abet the terrorists.

THEN the movie would be truly equally-offending

[soundfury]

13. They didnÕt make fun of conservative actors É

They only made fun of liberal actors; moreover, they made it seem like liberals
are helping the terrorists.

Hardly equal-opportunity offenders.

I like to know what drugs they were on when they came up with their Dick/Pussy/Asshole philosophy.

By their definition:

Pussies (Liberals/ the world ) think everyone can get along.

Dicks ( America ) are guilty of fucking Pussies and Assholes too often.

Assholes (Terrorists) shit on everything because they donÕt give a shit.

Therefore, itÕs up to the Dicks to keep the Assholes in "check."

In their twisted logic, they missed the point that the Dicks are creating a lot of Assholes
because they are always fucking with them.


P.S. I paid for Motorcycle Diaries and sneaked into see Team America.

[jdots]

15. I don't mind laughing at myself

i just don't want to pay ten bucks for the pleasure

[soundfury]

17. The moral of the story should have been that ...

the Assholes and Pussies should work together
so the Dicks stop fucking the Pussies and Assholes less often.

[LibLover]

39. Making fun of conservatives

I think they made fun of conservatives by making the people in Team Amercia shallow "90210-ish" people with an exaggerated Rambo attidude. Brutally killing the actors was a part of their exaggeration.



I laughed. It was a good date movie.

[leeroysphitz]

42. I love you.

But you are dense. Please go read a book on something called "Satire".
Believe it or not this "satire" thing has been around for quite a long time. Allow me to provide a brief example:

"They only made fun of liberal actors; moreover, they made it seem like liberals are helping the terrorists."

This is an example of the film makers "satirizing" widely held CONSERVATIVE stereotype bullsh*t spread by the likes of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh etc... that Liberals like Tim Robbins, Susan Serandin and others are somehow terrorist sympathizers because they can not in good conscience support the war in Iraq.

[gorrister]

14. the freepers love Team America

oh yes they do ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1247646/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1247564/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1247660/posts

[jdots]

16. I will pay 10 bucks to not go to freerepublic n/t

[Cha]

30. As well I can imagine..Why the

fuck wouldn't they?


EDIT~ I know Sean Penn didn't and that's good enough for me!

"To Trey Parker and Matt Stone,

I remember a cordial hello when you guys were beginning to be famous guys around Hollywood at some party. I remember several times getting a few giggles out of your humor. I remember not being bothered as you traded on my name among others to appear witty, above it all, and likeable to your crowd. I never mind being of service, in satire and silliness.

I do mind when anybody who doesn't have a child, doesn't have a child at war, or isn't or won't be in harm's way themselves, is encouraging that there's "no shame in not voting" "if you don't know what you're talking about" (Mr. Stone) without mentioning the shame of not knowing what your talking about, and encouraging people to know. You guys are talented young guys but alas, primarily young guys. It's all well to joke about me or whomever you choose. Not so well, to encourage irresponsibility that will ultimately lead to the disembowelment, mutilation, exploitation, and death of innocent people throughout the world. The vote matters to them. No one's ignorance, indcluding a couple of hip cross-dressers, is an excuse.

All best, and a sincere fuck you,

Sean Penn"


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2475186

[mog]

50. maybe that is why Parker and Stone are so popular

everyone interpret their work differently, and extract different message out of it. Liberals are made to look like whiny pussies in many episodes of south park, but the conservative lardass Carmen was also ridicued everytime he utters "I kill you, hippies".

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

61. WOW watch them praise it! No, really, read this:

They’re dismembered, incinerated, and otherwise tortuously eliminated by the “South Park� creators.

Unfortunately, it’s just the puppet version. And it’s only on celluloid. The real-life versions of these self-righteous glitterati pains in the rear are still with us.

But it’s always nice to fantasize -- as Stone and Parker do in Team America: World Police...

As members of the “Film Actors Guild�, they are all FAGs.

Mustard-stained Michael Moore is a homicide bomber, blowing himself to bits (after stuffing himself with hot dogs, while protesting the War on Terror)!

I think I’ve just found my new fave filmmakers.

Yep. A match made in Heaven. Made to one another. I agree.

[Logansquare]

21. Isn't this just another "Born in the USA?"

You remember when Springsteen's emblematic anti-Vietnam song became a hit. Right wingers everywhere ignored the cynical lyrics and chanted the chorus "Born in the USA!!" with their fists pumping in the air. Irony, if crafted too well, is completely lost on these morons. The only good thing I can say about this movie is that it correctly identifies N. Korea as a potential threat. That's more than the Bush administration has done.

[Canadian_moderate]

32. Thats what I would expect

From Stone and Parker. Some people here need to relax a little and take themselves less seriously. I haven't seen Team America yet, but all the more liberal media sources in Canada are giving it thumbs up. I'm sure they wouldn't if it was right-wing propaganda.

I really don't give a shit what the naysayers are bitching about. My wife and I will go to see it and we'll decide for ourselves. It's not just the conservatives, some liberals need to remember to keep open minds.

BTW, my wife just mailed her absentee ballot for Kerry/Edwards. It was a Maryland ballot, so I'm not sure if it will make much difference. Her home state (PA) would have been more useful I would think.

[HuckleB]

46. Hardly. These guys are Repugs...

It's quite clear who this movie and these guys support.

Want more? Go to: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C40820%2C00.html

At the bottom:

"The audience at the liberal activist group People for the American Way's annual fund-raising and awards dinner in Beverly Hills on Tuesday night got a couple of surprises. One award went to the veteran rock singer Neil Young who proceeded to say he supported the tough measures the Justice Department has taken in its anti-terror campaign. Another award went to Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the bawdy cartoon series South Park, who announced that they were Republicans. "It's true," said Parker, who was wearing a stars and stripes outfit."

[mog]

51. I think one is a repug and the other is a libertarian

Somehow, I have the feeling that they are the neocon type that is so prevalent nowadays.

[HuckleB]

54. Parker used to claim that he was Libertarian...

He's since made statements that he's a Repug.

I think he was just playing games with the press with those past claims.

[IronLionZion]

23. are you a dick, pussy, or asshole?

There are elements of all three here on DU.

anywho, This movies set out to offend as many people as possible, so there's no point getting offended.

The team basically destroys everything they touch, like the flag-waving conservatives do. And the actors blame the team for the attacks, like many anti-war liberals do. A key point at the end of the movie was that the dicks and pussies needed to work together to defeat the assholes, who just want to shit on everything.


(if you haven't seen the movie, dicks like to fuck everything, pussies get fucked by dicks and tell them to stop fucking all the time, and assholes just want to shit on everything. Dicks also fuck assholes.)

[cyclezealot]

26. Confused movie.

I know and agree. It was intent to inflame everyone..But, confused. Does anyone recall Michael Moore interviewing the cartoonists of SOuth Park( same as Team America.)
They hate right wingers...They grew up in Columbine. The movie ended with the Team AMerica , militarists, saving the world..Confusing.

[soundfury]

24. Who is more qualified, liberal actors or Reich Wing talk show hosts?

The film dismisses the opinion of liberal actors but why not of Reich Wing talk show hosts?

If liberal actors are not qualified to opine about politics, what makes Reich Wing talk show
hosts so qualified to opine about politics?

Rush Limbaugh was a former baseball commentator.

Bill O Riley was a former anchor for the TV tabloid show "A Current Affair."

Michael Medved is a former movie critic.

What makes these people more credible to opine about politics?

[Silverhair]

41. The wonderful thing about Freedom of Speech is that

EVERYONE is qualified to talk about politics.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

59. Welcome to my collection

http://users.vialink.com.br/jcastro/quotes.txt

[Dastard Stepchild]

25. I laughed once... (some spoilers)

no, maybe twice. I liked the "America - Fuckin' Yeah" song, and that hokey country-sounding tune.
Mind you, I am not a gal that takes things too seriously. But, I thought this movie fell really flat. Aside from the obvious hypocrisy that Stone and Parker are commenting on movie stars' inappropriate use of the media podium from a massive media podium (e.g. a movie), I just didn't think this one was all that clever. They can, and have, done much better, but this one didn't do it for me. I'm tired of fag jokes, tired of the notion that a man with a social conscience is a woman/pussy (and we all know what a crime it is to be a woman), and tired of the notion that celebrities are a bunch of uninformed windbags.
Technically, this was an impressive movie. The use of puppets - very cool. But that's about all the credit I can give it.

[Sven77]

27. another song i liked

was the training montage song and the kim jong il im lonely song. the movie bombed at the box office. it was ok, wait for the video.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

28. i liked it alot. it was a fun movie if you like their stuff.

[ReadTomPaine]

31. Didn't Parker & Stone do "That's My Bush"?

I posted this in LBN a short while ago, but it seems even better suited here

They attack both sides of the aisle, though I also agree they lean toward the right overall. Not sure what to make of this film as I haven't seen it.

I understand Parker & Stone originally wanted to film "The Day After Tomorrow" using this technique but that film's producers weren't interested. It would probably have been better for both sides if they agreed.

RTP

[pstokely]

48. in 2000 they said to vote for Gore if you wanted a funnier show

they said Gore was a robot and they'd be able to make him do anything

[Canadian_moderate]

35. It's getting very good reviews here in Canada.

Obviously the lefties here have a much better sense of humour than those in the USA. I haven't seen it yet, but I will see it soon.

These reviews are from left-of-centre media sources...

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1097834703482&call_pageid=1022183557980&col=1022183560753

As circumstance would have it, the third and final Presidential debate began just half an hour after the promotional screening of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's universally offensive, funny string-driven action satire Team America: World Police.

If you caught both, the juxtaposition made for some productive cross-referencing. Personally, if I wasn't wondering where the strings were that were holding the Punch and Judy-like Messrs. Bush and Kerry erect behind their lecterns, I did wish I could have interjected when the candidates were asked about what could possibly unite an America as violently polarized as this election year's model.

Easy. If you want to unite the right and left, take both sides to see Team America. In this movie, everybody's just a wooden dickhead. Moreover, as one of the movie's more elaborate musical showstoppers suggests, "Everybody's got AIDS!"

Beginning with an assault on gibberish-speaking, all-purpose Muslim stereotype terrorists planning to explode briefcase-borne weapons of mass destruction in a Paris that looks even phonier than the one Gene Kelly danced in, the movie introduces its heroes: A team of chipper, all-Caucasian action-figure cops dedicated to wiping out terrorism anywhere it rears its usually be-turbaned and razor-challenged head.

Even if it means, as it does hilariously in the Paris opener, creating some significant collateral dents in the process.

Just before the Louvre is reduced to smoking rubble by a Team America missile, the Eiffel Tower is toppled right on top of the Arc de Triomphe - which it crushes. "Damn it!" barks the wooden-jawed puppet responsible. "I missed!"

http://www.metronews.ca/entertainment_movie_review.asp?id=3900

Puppet movie sparkles

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is parodied in the film.

Team America: World Police

***** (out of five)

Team America: World Police is the best movie ever made.

[libertad]

36. I thought the songs were hilarious, too.

America, F*#k Yeah! and Freedom Costs a Buck-O-Five, especially.

[JUS]

37. Thanks for the review...

I might go check it out...

[HuckleB]

45. I sat through this yawn fest of propaganda last Friday.

It's not funny. The audience laughed out loud maybe twice together during the whole film. And it's clearly right-wing propaganda. Now, that would be OK, except that Parker and Stone won't fully admit their political leanings, like Matt Groening does, for example. They continue to try to pretend that they go after "everyone" equally. Sorry, guys. But this film finally puts the lie to that. They remind me of Rush Limbaugh's constant refrain after he blathers out his right-wing nonsense: "It was just a joke." Umm. Yeah. Sure. Just another joke.

It's time that DUers recognized propaganda when they view it. Please.

[deutsey]

49. Thanks for the analysis, but I'm not into their humor

I doubt I'll be seeing this movie and it has nothing to do with whatever their politics are.

I have a very warped and cutting sense of humor (I love some of the old National Lampoon stuff, circa early '70s, and am a huge Bill Hicks fan, for example), but I've never found South Park very funny.

All in the eye of the beholder, I guess. :hi:

[FlemingsGhost]

53. I think Andy Kaufman would have loved Stone and Parker.

Fucking with the audience to the point that the joke is on them. Gleefully amused by the folks who are too wrapped up in the outrageous spectacle to notice *they* are the clowns. Or puppets, if you will.

Stone and Parker are pushing buttons so masterfully, the predictable knee-jerk reactions become a hilarious parody in itself.

(edited for clarity)

[HuckleB]

55. Kaufman was genius.

These guys are hacks, currently copying Rovian methods to get free press for a movie that's a dud. Anyone who reads an interview of them knows that. They try and try to put the joke on others, but, in the end, it's plain that these two are nothing but humorless hacks out to make as much as they can, any way they can. No one would have fallen for their act in Kaufman's time, when we had a press that did its job, and people paid attention.

[FlemingsGhost]

56. Oh, but folks *are* falling for their act.

Many of the "overly sensitive, highly emotional" left is indignant, and the "unimaginative, not too clever" patridiots of right are cheering. Right on cue. Playing their roles, perfectly. Being the puppets that they are ...

[HuckleB]

58. Sort of.

At least that's what Parker and Stone try to push in interview after interview. Except that their pushing this so hard, that it's begun to become apparent that the supposed audience that "falls for their act" (especially from the lefties they hate so much) is more and more a piece of propaganda forged by their own hands than it is reality. That's what I'm talking about when I say these guys are Rovian hacks. They want to be hated so much that they must talk about it every chance they get. It's really quite pitiful.

[FlemingsGhost]

60. Have you seen the general reaction here at DU?

Dance puppets, dance ...

Granted, no one can ever duplicate the genius of a master. And Kaufman was it. (Well... Lenny Bruce might be THE original.) Maybe that's why Stone and Parker's gig lacks luster and appears transparent to folks, like ourselves, that adore Kaufman's work.

Let's face it, most Americans didn't "get" Kaufman. Truly a man ahead of his time. It went right over their heads, and that was the idea.

[HuckleB]

64. Yes.

What's your point (re: DU reaction)?

I saw the movie, and I found it to be a snoozer (at least in regard to laughs). A serious downturn from past work. The only truly redeeming thing about it in terms of creativity was technical.

That's my review of it, without discussing the content (though one wonders if the content offered true satire, if there would be such discussion at DU, and I wonder if my review would be different -- I suspect so), which is what most of the talk at DU is about.

[2ndPlatoon]

62. The movie is funny

and if you can't laugh at yourself then you better not ever laugh at others......

I didn't care that they made fun of liberals. And I have seen them make fun of conservatives. I have seen southparks that blasted everyone. I saw one that blasted Mel Gibson. Had him running around in his tighty whities like an idiot. Cartman dressed like Hitler to support Mel. This was when the passion first came out.

If you blast this movie because it makes fun of you then you are the problem.

[HuckleB]

65. I didn't find it funny.

Especially compared to their earlier work. Yeah, they have blasted conservatives over time, though the percentage has gone down over the years, falling to nearly nothing with this movie. Yet, they, for the most part, try to hide their leanings in interviews, or feign having none. I find that disingenuous. Matt Groening doesn't hide his leanings, so why do these guys? What are they afraid of? It's not like it hasn't come out already, so why not just be up front.

By the way, I never blasted the movie for making fun of me. I blasted it for being boring, and I blasted the makers for being less than honest in their interviews regarding the movie, as they work hard to tell each interviewer about the world of lefties who hate them so very much. The need to foment controversy in order to get people to see this snoozer is all too obvious, when one reads their interviews. I dunno. I just find it funny that these guys take themselves so seriously sometimes, but then can't fathom anyone else responding in kind. It definitely takes away from the humor, when you know that it's not coming from an honest starting point -- when you know that the creators can't and don't laugh at themselves, at least as much as they'd like everyone to believe.

[RaleighNCDUer]

63. As I saw it they were making fun of liberal personalities and

conservative values.

They have to make fun of liberal personalities, because it is liberal values that allows the making of films like this. They are inherently supporting liberal values.

The conservative values they were satirizing? Extraordinary self centeredness, lack of respect for the world community, prudery, and I don't know what all. I don't recall any overt religious message -- sure, the terrorists (except KJI) were Muslim, but it never got into 'mine, good; yours, bad'.

If it was skewed toward the right, it's not surprising, because of their writers' claimed libertarian slant, and to fit the storyline it was apt to pick on liberal actors; after all, the American left has been terrifically ineffectual for some time. How else did we wind up with * as prez?

As others have said, a few jabs at RW personalities would have been nice, but where would they fit the narrative structure? Limbaugh, for instance. He's not a dick, because he doesn't actually do anything. He's not an asshole, by their definition, because he doesn't shit, he just farts. He could be a pussy, but the definition in the narrative is defined as ineffectual do-gooders, and he does nothing good.

Best for them to just ignore him (which is what I also do).