Team America

With America-slagging at an all time high, sometimes you need to
stop and remind yourself that it’s not Americans per se that we really
hate; just morons. And morons come from both ends of the political
spectrum. This is what is so great about Team America. All over
the globe, from ignorant, gung-ho patriots, to megalomaniacal
dictators, to pretentious liberal Hollywood wankers. No one is spared.
That the film’s whole story is portrayed through clunky
thunderbird-style marionettes is more than just the icing on the cake;
it provides a visual absurdity that sees the movie through some of the
weaker gags, whilst providing a perfect pastiche of the wooden-ness of
the multi billion dollar explosion-fests that we all take so fucking
seriously.

For what it’s worth, here’s the premise: operating
out of Mount Rushmore, Team America fight terrorism under the guidance
of mentor Spotswoode. The team consists of Lisa, a beautiful
psychologist, Joe, the chiseled jawed team leader, Sarah, a clairvoyant
flying ace, and Chris, an aggressive martial arts expert who bears a
strange resemblance to Stiffler from American Pie. In order to
infiltrate a middle Eastern terrorist organization, they enlist the
acting skills of Broadway’s hottest star, the reluctant Gary Johnston.

Unfortunately
for TA, their ho is a little too gung, and they end up taking out half
of Cairo. Given that they have now blown seven shades of shit out of
not only the Sphinx and at least one pyramid, but also the Eiffel
Tower, Arch de Triumph, and the Louvre, they soon earn themselves the
ire of Hollywood’s self righteous left brigade, led by Alec Baldwin.
But the same world that has now turned on Team America soon needs their
help when it finds itself at the mercy of the evil North Korean
dictator, Kim Jong Il.

What follows is the seamless blend of
juvenile gross out humour and clever pop cultural satire we’ve come to
expect from creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Though normally I
can’t stand gross out humour, somehow these guys always win me over. A
sex scene which includes a sixty-niner between two puppets, and another
moment in which our hero, having hit rock bottom, staggers out of a
dirty bar for an uber spew are among the film’s funniest moments.

Another
Parker/Stone staple as present as ever here is the soundtrack. The
rousing "America, fuck yeah!" is worth the admission price alone, but
the definite highlight here is a montage in which our hero undergoes a
vintage eighties second-turning-point transformation to the tune of
"Montage"; an-eye-of-the-tiger-esque chest beating anthem whose lyrics
underline the need for said cinematic convention at this point in the
movie to push the plot line along. Tres post modern.

But of all the factions Team America
aims it’s satirical cross hairs at, it is – refreshingly – Hollywood
itself that really cops it. Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn are
all great actors, but all have been guilty of some of the most
pretentious, self-righteous bullshit in recent years, and here they are
all brought back to earth with a deafening thud. It’s clearly no
co-incidence that each one of them dies a gruesome death.

may not be Citizen Kane, but those who
dismiss it as lowbrow popcorn fodder are in danger of exposing their
own hang ups as much as they are the film’s. These here are confusing
times we live in. Everyone’s at each other’s throat and everyone thinks
they have the answer to all the world’s problems. So who do you side
with? Whose path is the righteous one? None of them, says I. They’re
all full of shit and it’s about time someone let them know. Evidently,
Matt Stone and Trey Parker agree.

I’d love to know what Michael Moore thinks of this film.