Movie Review: “South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut”
19 Mar
On March 17th, Comedy Central presented the season premiere episode of South Park, which is currently on its fourteenth season. For the occasion, I decided to reach into my DVD collection and re-watch Trey Parker’s South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut. The film was written by the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The film had a twenty-one million dollar budget and was a box office hit when it was released in the summer of 1999.
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut starts when Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick, along with Ike Broflovski (Kyle’s adopted brother) watch an R-rated movie called “Terrance & Phillip: Asses of Fire”. The film is filled with adult humor that they never heard before and in a matter of no time the boys start to copy it to impress their classmates. Soon they get caught using the vulgar language and they are pronounced “corrupted”. Sheila Broflovski (Kyle and Ike’s Mom) with the rest of the parents pressure the United States government to wage war against Canada since the stars of the film were Canadian. The boys don’t want anything bad to happen so it’s all up to them to save Terrence and Phillip. However, if the boys fail in their mission, Satan and his lover Saddam Hussein from Hell will the rule the world.
Obviously, the story of the film is pretty ridiculous, but if you ever watch the show you would realize it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Since it breaks the barrier of ridiculousness, it’s hard not to laugh at the pure craziness. The film does do a terrific job with being a satire on culture and politics. One of the main issues that the film tackles is the issue of censorship, which is still relevant today. The film was a great turning point for the show in terms of tackling real issues and less of scatological comedy.
What truly makes this film so enjoyable and funny is the soundtrack. The soundtrack was written by Trey Park and Mark Shaiman (with the help of Matt Stone). It’s fascinating that they were able to make the story progress forward with songs like “Uncle Fucka” and “Blame Canada”. All of the songs are extremely catchy and after multiple viewings, you will most likely sing along since the lyrics are so memorable.
One of my concerns of watching South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut again was if it will hold up after all these years. After watching it again, I felt the issues that were brought up are more important now than ever. The film definitely stands on its own feet and doesn’t feel like a longer and expensive episode of the show (despite what the title says), unlike David Silverman’s The Simpsons Movie. The film also provides a number of guest voices like George Clooney, Minnie Driver, Mike Judge, and Dave Foley. If you haven’t check it out yet, I definitely recommend renting it.
- Dan Dreher
Tags: Dan Dreher, March 2010, Matt Stone, Movie Review, South Park, South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, Trey Parker
Hilarious movie, but I had to wait several years before I could see it.
I know what you mean, I really didn’t get into South Park till the beginning of high school (2003) and a couple months afterward I came across the movie.
SP is an utterly hysterical show and while the movie is really just an extension of that, it’s still epically funny.
Couldn’t agree with you more!
I agree with Heather here. Anyone going into this expects nothing less than a continuation of the TV show. I need to see this!
Whenever I get bored I start humming “Kyle’s Mom” subconsciously, and there’s always someone who starts singing along…ah the abundance of pop culture. This is such an hysterical movie and the humor just won’t quit.
I used to say that everything I need to know about life I learned by watching South Park, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Animal House. Actually I still do:P
I can safely say this is one of the best musicals ever. The montage song when they’re all heading to the USO show is phenomenal.