# South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)

### reviewed by
Edward Johnson-Ott

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999) Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman, Isaac Hayes, George Clooney, Minnie Driver, Dave Foley, Mike Judge, Eric Idle, Brent Spiner. Music by Marc Shaiman. Screenplay by Trey Parker & Matt Stone and Pam Brady. Directed by Trey Parker. 82 minutes. Rated R, 3.5 stars (out of five stars)

Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to pbbp24a@prodigy.com

"Off to the movies we shall go, Where we learn everything that we know, 'Cause the movies teach us what our parents don't have time to say." from "Mountain Song," written by Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman

So begins the animated musical "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut," which starts off strong, sags quite a bit in the middle, but comes back for a rousing finale. The big-screen version of the popular TV series is staggeringly profane and very funny, although it may prove troublesome to those gentle souls offended by non-stop swearing, bathroom humor, sacrilegious remarks and jokes about "family values," small town Americana, Heaven, Hell, the movie ratings system, racism, abortion, menstruation, rednecks, gays, Christians, Jews, Canadians, doctors, homeless people, fat people, the military, the Presidency, Saddam Hussein, Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, Winona Ryder, Brooke Shields, the Baldwin Brothers, Bill Gates and Jar Jar Binks. Give creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone credit, though: they treat Olympic skater Brian Boitano with the utmost of respect.

A word of warning to parents: Even if you allow your children to watch "South Park" on TV, do not let them see this movie without first screening it yourself. "Bigger, Longer and Uncut" is a comedy for adults that takes full advantage of its "R" rating.

In fact, parents who fail to adequately monitor their children are key to the film's plot. After eight-year-old twerps Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, Kyle Broflovski and Eric Cartman take in a screening of "Asses of Fire," an R-rated movie starring their favorite TV stars, Canadian comics Terrance and Phillip, they emerge from the theater with a broader vocabulary, courtesy of their newly uncensored heroes. When the children of the sleepy little Colorado town of South Park begin swearing like longshoremen, their parents wildly overreact, leading to the United States declaring war on Canada.

As happens weekly on the TV version of "South Park," Kenny dies horribly, only this time we follow him into the afterlife. Rejected from Heaven, Kenny plummets to Hell, where he overhears a conversation between Satan and his lover, Saddam Hussein. To save the world, Kenny must return to Earth and somehow prevent the pending execution of Terrance and Phillip.

While the animation for the big screen "South Park" remains as delightfully crude as the original, co-writers Parker, Stone and Pam Brady use their new forum to create a lavish send-up of animated musicals. The 12 songs lampoon everything from Broadway style show stoppers to cheesy power ballads. Highlights include "Uncle Fucka," an obscenity-fest from Terrance and Phillip, "Blame Canada," a brassy offering from the parents, the peppy "Kyle's Mom's A Bitch" and "Up There," a terrifically hokey "inspirational" number from Satan himself, complete with the Dark Lord breaking into a falsetto during the overwrought climax, as a choir swells behind him.

The songs, with lyrics by Parker and music by Marc Shaiman, are hilarious dead-on parodies, but for a film only 82 minutes long, a dozen tunes are a bit much (although I can't imagine cutting even one of these nasty little ditties). Surprisingly, Chef (Isaac Hayes), the one character who routinely croons on the TV series, doesn't sing a note here.

After a powerhouse beginning, "Bigger, Longer and Uncut" suffers from a flaccid midsection. The boys organize "La Resistance," a children's crusade to rescue Terrance and Phillip, while Kenny counsels Satan about his codependent relationship with Saddam Hussein. Both storylines are sporadically amusing, but fail to sustain the riotous tone established earlier in the film. Thankfully, everything builds to an ending that almost recaptures the energy level of the opening. And, as an added treat, fans get to clearly see and hear little Kenny for the first time.

At once a scattershot satire and a feature-length dirty joke, "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" is a hoot, a spirited, invigorating exercise in tastelessness. Some fans will bemoan the musical format, while social observers will likely wail that the film is another example of how far our culture has fallen. To both groups, I can only quote the immortal words of Eric Cartman: "Screw you guys, I'm going home."

    © 1999 Ed Johnson-Ott

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