South Park dudes Trey Parker and Matt Stone employ puppets to lay waste to international terrorism in TEAM AMERICA
TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE (Trey Parker, 2004)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday, October 19, and Saturday, October 20, 12:15 am
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.teamamericamovie.com
Nothing is off limits for South Park dudes Trey Parker and Matt Stone in this marionette musical actioner that mixes Top Gun, Mission: Impossible, and The Matrix with that old classic television puppet show Thunderbirds. Kim Jong Il is determined to unleash his weapons of mass destruction on an unsuspecting world, and it is up to Team America and its newest member, actor Gary Johnston, formerly of the hit musical Lease, to stop the North Korean leader’s heinous plan. But Team America is a reckless bunch that has a tendency to destroy major cities and landmarks (the Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx) as it attempts to take out terrorists. Meanwhile, love threatens to complicate the success of their mission. Parker and Stone skewer international politics, the military, celebrity, and the media in this very dirty, very funny flick; among their victims are Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Peter Jennings, Hans Blix, George Clooney, and, mercilessly, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. There’s lots of blood and gore, a very hot puppet sex scene, and the best description ever about the three kinds of people in the world. Although it often misses its target or goes way too far — it could have been a classic like South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut — it’s still a good way to spend a late night out at the movies. Team America: World Police is screening in 35mm at 12:15 am on Friday and Saturday night as part of the IFC Center’s Waverly Midnights series, which continues October 26-27 with Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers and November 2-3 with Todd Solondz’s Election.