How Far South Can You Go?

Rating: Null/10 (23 June 2004)

"South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" starts off like a ball of fire with our youthful heroes (Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny) sneaking into an R-rated Canadian feature that is little more than an exercise in profanity. Of course the aforementioned kids spread their colorful verbal antics to the other children at their elementary school and soon the parents are in an uproar, so much so that military action against Canada and the executions of the duo from the film seem imminent. No "South Park" entry is complete without Kenny being killed. But this time he goes to Hell and we see that Satan himself and Saddam Hussein are just waiting for the events to transpire so that they can rule the world. Amazingly Hussein becomes the dominant figure in a strange sexual relationship that he has with the Prince of Darkness (no kidding folks). Censorship, v-chips, crazed musical interludes and constant vulgarity dominate the action from minute one through minute 80. "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" just does not play as well as the Comedy Central series. Length becomes a real issue as the characters are not totally successful being transferred to the silver screen. The film would have been about the same with an hour cut out. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone do everything possible to offend and insult their audience. Nothing is to be taken too seriously though (you just have to realize that Parker and Stone are little more than hacks that make up for their lack of talent by being as outrageous as possible). Anyway the movie is hit and miss. Some of the gags are hilarious, while some are just disastrous mistakes. Surprisingly the musical numbers may be the picture's greatest strengths. "Blame Canada" (not my favorite song from the movie) did receive an Oscar nomination back in 1999. 2.5 out of 5 stars.