Satire meets scatological in political marionette film

Team America: World Police (2004)

Paramount Pictures presents a Trey Parker film, starring the voices of Parker and Matt Stone. Written by Parker, Stone and Pam Brady. 100m. R for graphic, crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language, all involving puppets.

3 stars

If there is one thing to be said for “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, it’s that they have a good sense of the embarrassing facets of American doctrine.

As purveyors of the “dick-and-fart” realm, their latest effort - “Team America: World Police” - appeals to their strongest demographic: those of us whose minds inescapably rest in the gutters of good taste. But this faction is so large that the pair’s lampoon of our post-Sept. 11 world may have more resonance this November than anything Michael Moore has produced. Laughter is good medicine, and “Team America: World Police” is carrying extra stock.

Filmed entirely with marionettes as actors, this film begs us not to take its politics seriously. It opens with American police agents staking out terrorists making an acquisition of weapons of mass destruction in Paris. Apparently, the weapons fit in the briefcase not much larger than a breadbox these days. In the scuffle for possession, American police destroy the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre through errant handling of missile systems. But perhaps more seriously, a team member has his little marionette body blown to bits by a Middle Eastern extremist.

This leads Spottswoode (voice of Daran Norris) to recruit Gary (voice of Parker), Broadway’s most accomplished theatrical performer as the team’s newest spy. Meanwhile, faulty data from the team’s computer, I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E., allows North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il (voice of Parker) to assemble launch sites for world destruction with the accidental help from liberal Hollywood actors like Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins.

The result is a hilarious criss-crossing of continents by the world police, who manage to destroy most major architectural wonders while infiltrating the terror network. They’re backed by a ridiculously uproarious soundtrack, including a theme song that speaks to their ability to kick butt.

Much like Parker and Stone’s previous effort, “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut,” the lyricism of the included songs makes the mood much lighter. A montage sequence of Gary’s training includes a song about montages which reminds its audience, “Even ‘Rocky’ had a montage.” And Gary’s relationship with terrorist psychology expert Lisa has its own ditty, which muses, “I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark when he made ‘Pearl Harbor.’”

But it’s another song that perhaps reflects one of the biggest problems during wartime these days: country music. Alan Jackson, John Michael Montgomery and Toby Keith, take note: Parker and Stone’s “Freedom isn’t Free” encapsulates everything wrong with trying to reduce a war into a four-minute product. In the “South Park” world, freedom isn’t free, so you better chip in “your buck oh five.”

Another messy off-shoot of war is the propensity of motion picture actors to believe the rest of the country really cares what they think about the state of the nation. The pair have their way with the most outspoken, making marionette versions of their visages and signing them up with the Film Actors Guild (an abbreviation of which leads to several crude jokes).

Hollywood is notorious for having no sense of humor, so it’s not surprising Sean Penn has already ripped off a memo denouncing the pair’s recent related pronouncement that people who are uninformed should not vote this November.

Besides the politically heavy-handed Hollywood, there’s whole groups of people who aren’t going to enjoy this bit of satire. If you can’t stomach the foul-mouthed, scatological-based humor of “South Park,” then I can’t imagine watching a puppet puke is going to be your cup of tea. If you squirmed when David Caruso showed his rear end on “NYPD Blue,” I doubt strongly you’ll find gratuitous marionette sex to your liking. But those who can manage to quell their sense of offense for 90 minutes might find an enjoyable lampoon at our current political climate.

For the rest of you, remember freedom isn’t free. If you’re not going to pay to see “Team America: World Police,” don’t forget to chip in your buck oh five.