AKA South Park: Everything And The Kitchen Sink

Rating: Null/10 (12 August 2003)

I first saw South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut when it was initially released in the cinema. I can't remember much of it except laughing helplessly for the duration. And for some reason I forgot about it. Never got it on DVD at the time as I thought a decent release would be made available in the future. A few years pass and I find I don't have the same television access I used to for new South Park episodes. A few years more and I catch the occasional episode and realise South Park is still as great as when it began. This prompted my frustrated searching for DVD's of episodes that weren't ridiculously expensive. The first thing I got hold of was the DVD of this incredible film. When I first watched it I was amazed at not only how good and hilarious it still was, but that it was still pretty inflammatory and shocking at times. Subsequent viewings gave me no choice but to hold it in the highest possible esteem as one of my favourite films. If you want a plot summary before we continue, you'll find it on the main page.
The film races along at a tremendous pace, with barely a second of screen time wasted. This is one of the most minimalist films I've seen, certainly in terms of dialogue. Matt and Trey don't seem to have heard of the term 'exposition', for which we can only be thankful. The minimum amount of information is conveyed between characters but to maximum effect for the audience, i.e. there's never a point in the film that doesn't feel relevant to what's going on. Every scene belongs in the film, which sounds strange but think about how many films you've seen which has moments you felt the film could have been stronger without. I don't think this applies to South Park, everything is in there for a reason.
I think Matt Stone and Trey Parker must be two of the most intelligent guys working in the business today. This is shown every week on the show with the quality and economy of the writing and the ease with which they take aim at targets just waiting and deserving to be satirised. In the film these targets take the form of the military, religion, censorship, education, musicals, death and many more that I can't recall off-hand. I can't remember ever seeing a film which managed to combine, and effectively hit, so many targets, and to do it as well as it has in this film. Perhaps the best example in this film of how good their level of satire is, is based in the wonderful mockeries of Disneyesque songs. Every song in this film is incredible, with Matt and Trey working alongside Mark Shaiman to produce some of the most memorable songs I've heard. The fact that I regularly play the CD soundtrack is testament to that. The songs are not only expertly composed and crafted, with wonderfully skewed and satirical lyrics, but they're also performed far better than I would imagine. Remember this is mainly just Matt and Trey singing on these tracks. And the singing's actually pretty damn good! I mean what else can these guys do?! On a wee side note, anyone who loves the songs on this film as I do should really pick up the soundtrack. Some on the songs have been reworked slightly to fit better away from visual accompaniments, and while they sound a bit strange at first because of that, repeated listens will reveal them to be even better. And again, as a note to how good these songs are, is the fact that they stand up well on their own away from the film.
For anyone who hasn't seen this film yet (and I hope age would be the only barrier there) there are some comments coming that could be construed as spoilers.
I was also quite shocked at how moral this film seems to be. 'Moral' and 'South Park' are two words that are generally placed at the opposite end of the spectrum, but I disagree. (I find it ludicrously hilarious that the Christian CAP movement denounced this as one of the most anti-moral films they'd ever 'reviewed'. But that's what can happen when you only take things at face value) There are quite a number of moments where this film teaches, what I will refer to as, 'life lessons'. And you can argue that this is just character moments, and yes they are, but look at the film and the context that they're in and tell me if you expected this. (Smart enough viewers who see this in the series every week can ignore this poser)
Example 1. The Satan and Saddam sub-plot. The behaviour and dialogue in all they're scenes immediately puts me in mind of a thousand bad relationships I've seen in real-life and onscreen. Saddam having the part of the uncaring and uncouth partner, Satan being the subservient significant other, always failing to please and not understanding the other. With the emphasis on Satan clearly being in the right, and trying to do the right thing, you have Satan teaching people how they should behave in a relationship if it is to survive. How subversive is that?!? Example 2. Kyle and his mother. All throughout the film there's is an action/reaction relationship. Kyle does something wrong and Sheila reacts to it. Usually badly. Well in this case she brought about the second coming of Satan and 1000 years of darkness, so. This relationship is similar to how the other kids and their mothers act, but Sheila is the voice for all and is clearly portrayed as the one of the 'reactionary people'. Those people who act before thinking. And no, that is definitely NOT a good thing. Even THIS is shown in the film. Little life lessons shown within the big life lessons. And by the end of the film, we have Kyle telling his mother that she needs to talk more to him if she wants to understand him. Again, in a film like this, where, although clearly marketed for adults, will be seen by masses of children, to have a character of a kid telling other kids who are watching to communicate better with their parents, I find simply astonishing. There are other moments like these dotted throughout the film but these were the two main examples that stuck with me.
I briefly mentioned at the start as to how I was still shocked in parts when watching this. Part of that was the moral aspect of the film, but mainly it was due to the content and what they managed to get away with. I actually think they missed some opportunities, for instance I only briefly glimpsed their Jesus character while he was marching with the troops, but given the involvement of Satan it seems strange that they didn't feature him more. Think of the 'Damien' episode and you'll see what I mean. But in terms of context at least, I'm not sure I've seen anything as shocking as an eight year girl wearing a 'c*ckmaster' t-shirt! To say nothing of the internet incident featuring Cartman's mum! And let us not forget the lyrical implications of 'Uncle F*cka'! But then they topped even those with the use of the words Ba*bara Stre*sland in Cartman's final expletive filled burst to defeat Saddam! What's also interesting is that the film manages to deftly mix contrasting styles of humour, the examples above no doubt fall into the crude category but there are also moments of smart comedy. For instance, the scene with the military commander outlining the plan for the white soldiers to 'get behind the darkies'. When Chef asks if the commander has ever heard of the 'emancipation proclamation', the commander replies that he doesn't listen to hip-hop. That scene also makes some rather pointed comments about race in the military without resorting to making a big statement about it. Or how about when Stan is using his parents PC and has to 're-route the encryption' in the space of about five seconds, neatly taking a swipe at films where computer programmes are hacked into all too easily.

But I think the one thing that will stay with me most is the laughs and the tears (of laughter). From George Clooney's voiceover doctor cheerfully whistling the opening song as he saunters away from Kenny's (literal) deathbed to Mr Garrison's exclamation that 'ALL the Baldwin's are dead?!?' to the location and position of Stan when finds the clitoris to Satan's scrunched eye falsetto during his big number 'Up There', it's a fun filled romp for all the family. Watch it with kids, grandparents and pets alike.