Smart AND Smart-Assed

Rating: 9/10 (18 July 1999)

I had three modes while I was watching this movie: laughing so hard my ribs felt like they'd cave in on my internal organs, laughing so hard I had to make myself stop because I couldn't breathe, and laughing so hard I was afraid I'd be kicked out of the theater. The last, of course, was unfounded since everyone else was laughing every bit as hard as me. Several times I just laid my head back on the top of my seat and shook with silent mirth. It's certainly "bigger, longer and uncut" and you could add funnier, raunchier and smarter, too. This is a movie with a message-do not make the mistake of imagining that it isn't. Like "The People Vs. Larry Flynt," this movie argues that a country's commitment to its ideals are most honestly tested when those ideals are stretched to their limits. An eloquent plea for free speech and a savage condemnation of censorship in the disguise of a hilariously offensive quasi-musical, "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" is quite simply one of the best movies of the year.