View All Reviews  |  View Next Review

Team America: World Police

October 15, 2004

Team America: World Police
Starring: Puppets

This movie could have been really funny and clever. There was a lot that could be done when you are making a politically satirical movie using marionette puppets but instead Matt Parker and Trey Stone, creators of South Park delve into toilet humor and lose sight of what the movie should have been.

The basic story is that Kim Jong Il has hired terrorists with WMDs to blow up the world and make every country on the same economic level (third world) so that no one country is more powerful than another. It is up to Team America to stop him. Team America is made up of 5 "people": (I don't remember all of their names so just play along) a martial arts expert, an ex-quarterback, a bad psychic, a psychologist, and Gary, the newest member of Team America, and the world's most gifted actor. Together they go to Cairo and then North Korea to stop the terrorists. Along the way they have to fight "leftist" actors like Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins (among others) who want to give peace a chance.

The movie started out funny and unique but right around the 80th time a puppet said the F-word I stopped being interested. Puppets swearing, having sex, vomiting and killing people can only carry a movie so far. It got really old, very quickly. Which is interesting because in the musical "Avenue Q" puppets did the exact same thing but it was funny and interesting mainly because it was done with a good story behind it and each instance stated above made sense in the situation. In Team America: World Police it was almost as if Trey and Matt didn't know what to do in some scenes so they just throw in a random swear word or puppet beheading.

I will say that some parts of the film were very funny. The scene where two puppets are attacked by tigers particularly stands out and the songs were well done also (I think Matt and Trey need to write a Broadway musical and I think deep down they want to.) But for every clever line or catchy tune there is another worn out, lame gag. Your sole joke can't be that it is a movie made entirely with puppets. If you were to replace the puppets with actors the movie should still be good. Unfortunately it would leave us with a tired and flaccid run-of-the-mill bad action movie. Like a bad 'Saturday Night Live' skit that goes on too long, Team America milks its one joke to the point of complete exhaustion.

My Grade: C

Blog Musings

Recent Columns

Hide the giant lube jar! The parents are coming!

Recently my parents came to visit from Pittsburgh. 
My boyfriend and I live in the heart of Boystown and by now my parents are used to what they refer to as "the lively activity" that goes on nearly 24/7. 

When they first visited years ago, I was more worried about my surroundings and made sure everything was "parent friendly." I would reddup the apartment (that's Pittsburghese for "a quick clean") and do a scan to make sure there weren't any nude male screen savers on the computers, a dog-eared copy of the "Gay Kama Sutra" on the bookshelf or a 30-gallon jug of lubricant on the dresser.

Read more.

Bedroom is a two-way street

A relationship is a two-way street.

One person gives a little and takes a little, and the other does the same. There are also certain agreements made in a relationship because one person doesn't like a particular chore. For example, the guy might clean the litter box and the woman will vacuum, or one person will kill the spiders and the other will dust the tchotchkes. Or the husband will hunt dinner and the wife will cook it up--hey, that's how the Ingalls family operated.

But this sort of arrangement can get sticky in the bedroom. If one person is tackling a big chore and the other is simply reaping the rewards, there's a problem. That's why I was surprised when a friend of mine, whom I shall call "Bob" to protect his identity and use a name with a double-entendre, said he refuses to perform oral sex on his girlfriend but expects her to pleasure him that way. How is that fair?
Read more.

How much 'Sex' can one person take?

I have a love/hate relationship with "Sex and the City." 
I loved the TV show but hated the first movie. So I was a bit concerned about the "SATC2" movie that opened last week; would this film be better or worse than the first?

I had seen most of the episodes of "SATC" when it aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004. Say what you will about SJP's constant puns, Samantha's over-the-top sexcapades and the girls' drag queen-inspired wardrobes, it's a fun way to pass 25 minutes of your day--except when the character of Mr. Big in on screen, and that's where my apprehension begins.

Read more.