Team America: World Police

Directed by: Trey Parker

Starring: Matt Stone (voice)

Genre: Comedy

Run Time: 98 min.

Release Date: October 2004

On The Web: Official Site

Teaser: Movie Trailer

Reviewed by Byron Merritt

TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE is a film that’ll be enjoyed by those with a penchant for the crude, rude, and socially unacceptable (not surprising since it was made by the creators of SOUTH PARK, Trey Parker and Matt Stone). And although I sometimes enjoy scraping the bottom of the film noir barrel, here the jokes were a bit too crude, rude, and socially unacceptable to be laughable. In fact, I only chuckled a few times.

What impressed me about the movie, though, were all of the marionettes (hundreds of them), the elaborate miniature sets, and the ‘I’m So Lonely’ song sung by the Kim Jong Il puppet. You’ll note that none of this has to do with the comedic script, too.

Making a good comedy — even a cheesy one like this — often requires gag jokes and good dialogue. And although there were tons of gags pulled off in the film (from watching puppets "do it" doggy-style, to having Kim Jong Il act like a gangster rapper), the dialogue was pure rubbish. I realize that it was making fun of action flicks, Americans and American actors’ egocentricism, and just about every other world political state out there, but there needs to be some sort of reasoning to these things that gives the film structure. And this movie completely lacked any kind of coherency.

The other bad part is that none of the "characters" are memorable. Can anyone tell me the names of the Team America team without watching it again? I can’t. And they are what the film is supposed to be about.

But, again, if you like watching such things as SOUTH PARK, you’ll probably enjoy this movie on the same brain-numbing level.

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Image from Team America: World Police

DVD cost: $12.99

Purchase: Barnes and Noble

Film Review Stew Favorite? No.

Stew Poo-Poo? No.

Newsworthy: The MPAA gave this film an R rating, accompanied with the specific explanation "For graphic crude and sexual behavior, violent images and strong language - all involving puppets."

Movie Quote: "When you see Arec Barrwin, you see the true ugriness of human nature."

Other Actors/Actresses from Team America: World Police

Images from Team America: World Police