"It was wonderful. I can't remember the last time I laughed so constantly at anything on a screen, or at least since Todd's death in Neighbours. If anything it peaked after the first half hour and the fully orchestrated, It's-A-Small-World rendition of 'Kyle's Mom Is A Stupid Bitch'. The fans of the show were watching out for the standard jokes, such as Kenny's death (at the hands of George Clooney, no less) and Kyle's trademark "Kick the baby!" line. In transforming the show for the big screen, Parker and Stone needed a hook, and found it by making the darn thing a musical. The soundtrack consists of a broad selection of elaborate musical numbers which are not only absolutely hilarious in their own right but that also stand up musically. There's 'Mountain Town', the catchy opening production number ("You can see your breath hanging in the air / You see homeless people but you just don't care"), as well as Big Gay Al's vaudeville off-Broadway piece, 'I'm Super', replete with tuxedo-clad dancers, white glittering staircases and girls swimming around in fountains.
In addition we have 'La Resistance', which takes the medley from the first act of Les Miserables (the best piece in the musical) and twists it to fascinating effect, as well as 'Up There', an epic ballad performed by Satan. To mention all this is to leave out Terrance and Phillip's 'Uncle F***ka', which had the audience literally rolling in the aisles. Knowing all this doesn't spoil any of it - I already knew all the words and I was still in stitches.
Half an hour in the laughs lessen and the rest of the movie is funny rather than hilarious, but it was worth hanging around for other assorted highlights, such as when they shot Bill Gates - something I've been wanting to do for years. A friend of mine works on the cash desk at the Showcase and got me free tickets. She is under obligation to warn anyone who goes in that it's an offensive movie, as it is - nothing is sacred, and I can't believe that some of the lines got past the censors. It's an animated film with swearing about kids who go to see an animated film with swearing. And the outraged parents of these children, who emerge uttering the strongest of profanities, decide that the best course of action is to wage Thermonuclear War on Canada. As Kyle's mother says towards the end, "Needless, irreparable violence with devastating consequences is fine, as long as there's no bad language!"
By tackling this as an issue, the producers have neatly side-stepped media outrage and have given the politically correct fat cats the biggest middle finger in the history of cinema. It's about freedom of speech and priorities, and how it's very easy to blame society's problems on what we see on TV. Which is what always happens, isn't it? I mean, I'm going to assume that when the Romans were torturing the Christians in Rome they'd got the idea from American Gladiators, right? That Jack the Ripper's murderous killing spree in nineteenth century London was inspired by Kubrick's Clockwork Orange? And that when Ghengis Khan ordered his Mongolian Army to march across China, they were merely re-enacting a scene from Braveheart?
(Takes a deep breath and jumps down from that particular pedestal. Pauses for
audience applause; not a sausage.)"
(From a letter, Thursday 2nd September 1999)
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