Summer of Netflix Day 14 - Team America

Chris: Team America was killing off North Korean dictators long before The Interview made it the cool thing to do in film. And yet, nobody hacked American film studios over it because it was a bunch of puppets on strings...also plus the fact that cyber attacks weren’t as prevalent as they are today. Either way, the creators of South Park made this movie as if it was a longer episode of South Park but with puppets instead of animation. Obviously the MVP of this movie is the original music, plus that one line that surprisingly didn’t ruin Matt Damon’s career. I remember when this movie first came out back when I was in high school, of course the biggest buzz about it was the puppet sex scene, which was only slightly more choreographed than their fight scenes, and how crude it was and how it would be cut out of the theatrical version. I’m not sure exactly which version is which on Netflix but it all seems a bit silly to think about now, doesn’t it?

Joel: So the movie opens on an intentionally poorly done puppetry scene only to have the camera zoom out to reveal that what were actually seeing is a puppet show put on by a much more impressive puppet. The whole reason that this scene starts of the movie is because Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to scare the Paramount executives the first time they saw it by making them think they’d made a terrible puppet movie. That’s the kind of people making the movie, and that’s the kind of movie this is. This tiny joke here is intended for the seven people who will get the reference. This thing over here is strange but it will be in line with a handful of people’s humor so it’s staying in. This works sometimes and doesn’t work sometimes. A lot of the movie comes of really funny and clever. Some of it comes off as strange. Some of it comes off as too gross or too much. You’re going to fall somewhere on that scale, and depending on where you fall, that’s how much you’re going to like the movie. But the whole thing makes Trey Parker and Matt Stone laugh and really, that’s what’s important. For a movie like this at least.

Your Viewing Homework for Tomorrow: 9 to 5