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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut  - Review﻿</title>﻿
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﻿<b﻿>﻿South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut 
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Review by Derek Chin﻿<br﻿>﻿
﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, September - October 1999﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
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I hate movies that make you think a lot. Yes, I know; this is an odd confession from a revolutionary Marxist. But, quite frankly, if I wanted to think, I'd save my money and buy a book. And for me to enjoy a comedy, it has to make me laugh. And the humour has got to be low-brow. Enter South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. Catapulted to stardom from its late-evening time slot on Comedy Central, the movie's television series namesake has attracted a wide following, despite the fact that most of its viewing audience can't stay up late enough to catch the show on TV. Now the cardboard cut-out, cartoon brainchild of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, famous for its toilet sense of humour, has been promoted to the big screen. But make no mistake: South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is not just another weekly episode of the TV series projected onto a larger canvas. Unfettered by the restrictions of cable television, Parker and Stone (who handle most of the "acting", I use the term advisedly, chores) give free reign to their creative (and impressively dirty ) minds. There's nothing subtle about the humour here: according to a Colorado-based research group, there are, in total, 399 expletives and 128 crude gestures crammed into the film's eighty minutes, an average of five four-letter words per minute. This movie works hard for its R-rating. (Incidentally, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has publicly admitted that it was a mistake not to give _South Park_ an NC-17 rating. Parker and Stone subsequently advised underaged moviegoers to buy tickets for Wild Wild West which is rated PG and then sneak into South Park.)
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The plot, in a nutshell, and without giving away too much: the small, whitebred/redneck town of South Park, Colorado is engulfed by a sea of controversy when the new movie Asses of Fire, starring everyone's favourite flatulent funnymen from Canada, Terrence and Phillip, has the town's kids including our protagonists, Stan, Carl, Kenny, and Cartman lining up at the theatres in droves, despite its R-rating (sound familiar?). When the kids start emulating Terrence and Phillip's onscreen foul language, the two TV personalities quickly become the targets of a campaign spearheaded by concerned South Park mothers to purge the entertainment industry of its corrupting influence on children. The crusade against Terrence and Phillip grows into a popular movement against Canada, when the country which produced Bryan Adams is flagged as the fount of all evil and depravity south of the border (partly because it produced Bryan Adams). Canada's retaliatory bombing of the Baldwin Brothers triggers the outbreak of all-out war between the neighbouring nation-states. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the parties involved, the prince of darkness, Satan, is poised for world domination. Did I mention that Satan is also trapped in an abusive sexual relationship with Saddam Hussein? And in keeping with the tradition established by the TV show whereby Kenny meets with an untimely demise each episode, Kenny dies.
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Some words of caution: if you're not a fan of the TV show, there's nothing in the movie that's going to change your opinion about the franchise. And revolutionaries, beware: there's a lot to offend your progressive sensibilities here. You will almost certainly bridle at the film's sexist and homophobic content, which is rampant throughout. Still, and despite Parker and Stone's own disavowal of any political motives, the film's radical anti-censorship thrust can't be brushed aside so easily. In the wake of the Littleton massacre, and with Hollywood under siege from its conservative critics, South Park parodies a nation that preaches the gospel of moral decency at home, while it wages murderous wars abroad; that sings the virtues of individual rights with one breath, and contemplates the installation of V-chips with the other.
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South Park trades on controversy; the film displays a complete irreverence for everything conservative America holds dear. There's no cow so sacred as to claim exemption from satirization. The movie pokes fun at, among others, family values, the MPAA and its conservative rating system, the death penalty, traditional Judeo-Christian religious icons, and wars, while taking potshots along the way at Alanis Morrisette, Bill Gates, Brooke Shields, Winona Ryder, Brian Boitano, and, of course, Bill Clinton. And the list goes on.
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The movie isn't without its flaws. For one thing, it's too long. The film fires on all cylinders through the first half, but by the turn of the hour, the act is already old. Aside from being homophobic, the Satan-Saddam Hussein romance subplot just isn't funny, and greatly interrupts the movie's rhythm. Also, Jesus Christ and Mr. Hanky (the lovable piece of shit (literally) who sings and dances his way into our hearts), both regulars on the television series, are noticeably absent from the feature film fray. The inimitable Isaac Hayes reprises his regular role on the TV show as Chef, but his scenes are too few and far between.
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The bottom line: an enthusiastic thumbs-up, with the rider, not for the faint of heart. Check your good taste at the door, sit back, and enjoy the ride. Sing along to the chorus of "Shut Your Fucking Face, Uncle-Fucker" if the mood should strike you. And don't give a second thought to the precipitous decline in your brain cell count. Shit, I didn't.
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