South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 American adult animated musical comedy film based on the Comedy Central adult animated television series South Park. The film was directed by series co-creator Trey Parker and stars the regular television cast of Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman and Isaac Hayes, with George Clooney, Eric Idle and Mike Judge in supporting roles. The screenplay was written by Parker, Stone and Pam Brady. It follows Stan Marsh as well as his friends Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick as they sneak into an R-rated film featuring Canadian actors Terrance and Phillip and begin cursing incessantly. Eventually, their mothers pressure the United States to wage war against Canada for allegedly corrupting their children, giving Stan, Kyle and Cartman no choice but to unite the other children, fight their own parents, put both America and Canada back into control and rescue Terrance and Phillip, while Kenny tries to stop a prophecy when Satan and Saddam Hussein conquer the world.
The film is primarily centered on themes of censorship and bad parenting; it also serves as a parody and satire of the animated films of the Disney Renaissance, musicals such as Les Misérables, and the controversy surrounding the show itself. The film also heavily lampoons the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA); Parker and Stone battled the MPAA throughout the production process and the film received an R rating just two weeks prior to its release. A writing team consisting of Parker, Stone, and Pam Brady was assembled. They conceived numerous plot ideas, with Parker and Stone's being the one developed into a film. The film features twelve original songs by Parker and Marc Shaiman, with additional lyrics by Stone. The film was produced by Comedy Central Films, Scott Rudin Productions and Braniff Productions.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is Comedy Central's only theatrically released animated feature film. It was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on June 30, 1999 by Paramount Pictures, with Warner Bros. handling international distribution, until around 2013. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its soundtrack, humor, and themes. Produced on a $21 million budget, it went on to gross $83.1 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing R-rated animated film of all time until it was surpassed by Sausage Party in 2016. The song "Blame Canada" earned Parker and Shaiman a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 72nd Academy Awards, but lost to "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan. It also receive three Annie Award nominations, including for Best Animated Feature.
==Plot==
Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick are four third grade friends that live in the small snowy mountain town of South Park, Colorado. One Sunday morning, Stan invites Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny to see a movie called Asses of Fire, which stars the boys' favorite Canadian comedy duo, Terrance and Phillip. However, the boys are not admitted due to the film being R-rated, so they pay a homeless man to accompany them (although they make him leave once getting them into the auditorium in a $10 vodka exchange). Immediately after the movie, the boys begin swearing everywhere they go. The other children are impressed and all see the movie as well - except for Wendy Testaburger, the girl that Stan likes, who spends her time with brilliant exchange student Gregory.
The children swear profusely in school the next day, which infuriates their teacher, Mr. Garrison, and leads to the school counselor, Mr. Mackey, and their mothers finding out. The children are forbidden from seeing the movie again, but after attending a class with Mr. Mackey that "cures them", they sneak out and see it again anyway. Afterwards, Cartman bets Kenny $100 that he cannot set his fart on fire like Terrance did in the film - his attempt goes too far and he sets himself on fire and a dump truck pours salt all over him. Kenny is rushed to the hospital where Dr. Doctor and the doctors try their best to revive him, but they unintentionally replace his heart with a baked potato, which explodes, killing him. Upon learning that their sons saw the movie again, their respective mothers ground them, while Kenny is sent to Hell for various misdeeds. He is tormented by Satan and his new partner, the recently deceased Saddam Hussein. Kenny learns that Saddam and Satan are lovers that have a dysfunctional relationship, and Saddam dominates and demeans Satan.
Back on Earth, Kyle's mother, Sheila Broflovski, leads the parents of South Park in a campaign against Terrance and Phillip, as well as the whole nation of Canada. Terrance and Phillip are then arrested on the Conan O'Brien Show as war criminals, which also results in Conan's suicide. When the United States refuses to release the duo, Canada retaliates by bombing the residence of the Baldwin brothers. Sheila and President Bill Clinton announce that the United States will go to war with Canada and have Terrance and Phillip executed at a USO show. After she overhears Cartman degrading her in a humorous song, Sheila has Dr. Vosknocker implant him with a V-Chip, a device that administers an electric shock every time he swears.
In Hell, Kenny hears Satan declare that the war is a sign of the Apocalypse and that when the blood of two innocent Canadians touches American soil, he will invade and conquer the world. Kenny attempts to persuade Satan to abandon Saddam, but to no avail. A ghostly Kenny visits Cartman to warn him. Unable to reason with their mothers, the three boys form La Résistance, partly so that Stan can win over Wendy as well as free Terrence and Philip. Gregory takes charge of the group and develops a rescue plan. He tells Stan to recruit a God-hating French-accented boy expert on covert operations named "The Mole."
La Résistance infiltrate the USO show using the Mole's expertise, but Kenny's ghost scares Cartman again and he forgets to deactivate the alarm. The Mole is discovered and killed by guard dogs, so the remaining boys attempt to warn their mothers about the prophecy and an attack by Satan and Saddam. They are laughed off, and Terrence and Philip's electric chairs are activated. The Canadian Army attacks the show and a battle ensues between the two armies. In the chaos, the boys are able to free Terrance and Phillip - in the process, Cartman is electrocuted briefly and his V-chip begins to malfunction. The mothers, seeing the destruction their movement has incited, decide to give up and look for their children, leaving only Sheila clinging to the cause.
After receiving a confidence-boosting vision from "The Clitoris", Stan leads the kids to Terrance and Phillip, who have been cornered by the United States Army. La Résistance forms a human shield while Kyle tries to persuade the soldiers and stands up to his mother against the killing. The soldiers begin to back down, but Sheila refuses and shoots Terrance and Phillip anyway, which results in Satan, his minions, and Saddam emerging from a fiery portal and slaughtering at will, invincible to retaliation. Because of all this, a regretful Sheila finally comes to her senses, confessing she was just trying to make the world a better place for children. Saddam successfully cows Satan once again and makes everyone bow to him as the lord of the Earth. However, when he insults Cartman, the latter swears and a bolt of energy shoots through his pointing finger and kills a minion. Realizing his newly acquired power, Cartman starts using profanity to power himself up and shoot electrical bolts at Saddam. Saddam continues to demean Satan and boss him around throughout this, which finally causes Satan to snap and throw him back into Hell, where he is impaled and killed on a stalagmite (although eventually revealed to not really be dead, as he is briefly shown singing in the final musical number while still impaled).
Satan then thanks Kenny for supporting him and grants him one wish; Kenny asks for everything to return to how it was before the war, even though it means he will have to go back to Hell. He takes off his hood, revealing his face, and says goodbye to his friends (provided by Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill creator, Mike Judge). Everything returns to normal in South Park, Terrance and Phillip are resurrected as well. Sheila apologizes to Kyle for not listening to him, Wendy says she does not care for Gregory and goes back to Stan, and instead of returning to Hell, Kenny ascends to Heaven due to his act of sacrifice. In the post-credit scene, Ike, the Broflovski's adoptive child from Canada, who was sent to the attic by Kyle to prevent the American army from sending him to a Canadian concentration camp, eats a rat while waiting for his family to come home.
==External Links==
*South Park Archives
*Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park:_Bigger,_Longer_%26_Uncut
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