Team America: World Police
RATING: 8/10

Review Date:        October 24, 2004
Director:             Trey Parker
Writers:              Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Pam Brady
Actors:                Trey Parker as Gary/Kim Jong Il/Various
                           Matt Stone as Chris/Various
                           Kristen Miller as Lisa
Audience of Choice:                 Raunchy, offensive comedy/ "South Park"
Year of Release:  2004

STORYLINE: Team America, an international police force dedicated to maintaining global stability, learns that power hungry dictator is brokering weapons of destruction to terrorists. The heroes embark upon a harrowing mision to save the world. To infiltrate the terrorist network, Team America recruits Gary Johnston, a rising star on Broadway to go undercover. Although initially reluctant to sacrifice his promising career, Gary realizes that his acting gifts is needed for a higher cause. With the help of Team America (Chris, Sarah, Lisa, Joe and Spottswoode, Gary slips into an arms dealer's hideout where he discovers that the terrorists' plot has already begun to unfold.

MY REVIEW: Team America is the type of movie you can sit down with your buds, get some popcorn, and laugh out loud at the hilariously raunchy exploits of puppets. The approach Trey Parker and Matt Stone use to poke fun at America's politics and terrorism may be sophmoric, and not just a little unwelcome by some, but damn if it isn't a friggin riot. I appreciated practically all the gags throughout the film, including the throw-up scene, the puppet sex-scene, and the many hilarious songs. A few of favorites being, America (F*ck Yeah!), and I'm So Ronery, sung by Kim Jong-Il. A very beautiful song in my eyes indeed. Another thing I thought was really funny was the constant blowing up of great world attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower.

        If there is one thing that cannot be denied about Trey Parker and Matt Stone it's that they have a wickedly funny sense of humor, but sometimes they take things to the point of people no longer even noticing it's a joke. For example, at certain points, the puppets stopped being funny and were just annoying, but it's only because people can only take it a few jokes at a time. There are so many jokes-in-jokes-in-jokes that we sometimes forget the main joke at hand, and end up getting frustrated with what's presented. I mean, the whole aspect of "OMG! Puppets are being naughty and disgusting!" gets old pretty fast, so what's left is the other jokes in the movie, but we STILL have to bear with the puppet jokes. Am I making ANY sense at all? Oh well, moving on...

        I've done enough complaining. This movie is too funny to rag on it any more. Seriously though, if anyone has a problem with watching puppets for an hour-and-a-half, I think they could figure that out BEFORE they pay for the ticket, so there's no point in complaining about it. One of the film's even funnier sides in my opinion was the great celebrity-filled finale. I don't want to spoil it, but I will say Matt and Trey probably had a great time writing this one down. Something funny worth mentioning is the fact that the movie was almost rated NC-17 because of 2-minute sex scene (shortened to 40 seconds to be rated R), but it's ridiculous because there isn't even a PENIS! Just to be clear, I'm not complaining because I was dissapointed not to see a puppet's penis (...hmh....maybe I was though- just kidding!), but I think the MPAA has some serious issues if they would rate a movie NC-17 for having two puppets look like they're having intercourse. This brings me to my final point: if the MPAA rating of this movie makes you laugh, then SEE this film- "Rated R for graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language - all involving puppets."

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