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Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
"South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about "Team America," their new foe Sean Penn, and whether it requires much effort to be this offensive.
Oct 12, 2004 | Forget "Fahrenheit 9/11." "Team America: World Police" is easily the most riveting political satire of the year, if not the most entertaining, the silliest and the dirtiest.
This unhinged parody of '80s action movies focuses on a gung-ho team of American special agents, played by marionettes, who are hell-bent on ridding the world of terrorists, even if it means toppling the Eiffel Tower and mowing down innocent civilians in the process. Featuring terrorists who mumble "Jihad" and "Mohammed" and puppets engaging in sexual positions never before seen at the Cineplex, "Team America" constitutes a generational litmus test like none before it. At the screening I attended, younger viewers laughed hysterically and emerged with huge grins on their faces, older viewers sat in silence and walked slowly from their seats, scowling. But your ultimate reaction to this film will no doubt depend entirely on 1) how many bad formulaic action movies you sat through in the '80s; 2) whether the word "fuck" makes you uncomfortable; and 3) how excited you are to see miniature replicas of self-righteous celebrities get their heads blown to smithereens.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of "South Park," have created a visually stunning, wildly goofy but undeniably incisive critique of American culture and our role as global cops. Wall-to-wall absurdity from the first shot, it doesn't pull any punches, and even its Scooby Doo-like ending will have you laughing louder than you have at any of the limp comic offerings of the last few years.
Unless, of course, you hate it.
I met up with Parker and Stone in Beverly Hills, Calif., where our interview was the first in a two-day whirlwind of movie junkets for "Team America." A day after Sean Penn attacked them publicly in a letter, and shortly after the movie finally received an R rating by the MPAA after making some required cuts (including, reportedly, a "golden shower" scene between marionettes), the two seemed slightly shellshocked, but were extremely easygoing and eager to talk about what's arguably their funniest, most ambitious work to date.
I saw "Team America" last night and, my God, I've never seen anything so obnoxious in my life.
Parker: [Laughs] My family's in town -- my aunts and uncles -- and I really don't even want them to see it.
Really?
Parker: Not out of embarrassment, I just know they're gonna be confused.
I've never heard more hysterical laughter at a screening before in my life, but when I was walking out I saw a few older people with extremely grim looks on their faces.
Stone: Right. I don't think it's for older people.
And it's probably hard to translate it for them.
Stone: I did an interview the other day with this college kid who was like, "I think this movie will span generations! What would you say to an 85-year-old about the movie?" I was like, "Don't go see this movie. Because you'll be bummed out. It is not for you."
Are there ever people who say, "Oh, I usually hate humor like this, but you guys do it so well." Or do people who hate this kind of humor just hate your stuff?
Parker: Yeah, they hate our stuff. And they hate us.
Stone: They hate us. But we haven't really had that many reactions to the movie yet. It's only been shown [in screenings] for the first three or four days, so we don't really know.
Parker: We got some hatred yesterday from some of the foreign press people, who were like, "This movie is so hateful!" and "How dare you?" They basically wanted to use all their time to just try to slam us. And then I was thinking about it, and I thought, I guess if I didn't offend an uptight old German woman -- I mean, if we can't offend her, we haven't done anything.
Stone: At least we offended somebody.
Still, do you ever feel like you cover your asses too much by taking on targets on opposing sides?
Parker: I don't think so, because we do take somewhat of a stand at the end. I mean, I believe we do make a point at the end of the movie. Some people consider that point to be fairly right-wing, and some people consider it to be fairly left-wing ...
What do you think that point is?
