Team America Review

[McMurphy]

Team America is about a young Broadway actor who joins the elite anti-terrorist group known as the name sake of the film. With the young actor, the audience witnesses Team America's naive approach to terrorism, their romantic relationships that are akin to high school crushes, and their incredibly reckless assault on terrorists.

I watched Team America last night, and was a bit disappointed. It isn't as good as the South Park film yet rightly deserves its same criticism of being a bit too long. In fact, I found myself mentally drawing "x"s over whole scenes that didn't need to be there.


The jokes seem tired and recycled to such a degree that one of the song sequences has actually already been used in the newest South Park season. What is even more disappointing, however, is that this political satire doesn't stab deep enough into the subject matter. At times, I felt Stone and Parker were actually pulling a few punches. Since they are not known for that in their comedy, I can only surmise the effect is more due to the jokes being far between and not all that funny than anything else. I found the South Park film far better at commenting on American society than Team America.


That is not to say that there aren't funny moments. It isn't a complete flop, after all. The scene where the puppets are having an all night love making session is so silly yet so nasty that one can't help but react (as did the FCC. They are pushing to give the film a NC-17 rating because of it).


The puppeteering is as bad as the paper cut-outs at the core of South Park, and it works almost as well. Read as much as you like into the fact it is soldiers and actors being puppets and the world comprised of toys, but you would do better at noticing how well put together the sets and puppets are. It is our cue that the puppeteering is supposed to be horrible; it is supposed to drive home the mocking of their subject matter.


As much as the film is a commentary on American and world politics, it is even more of a parody of highly moronic action films in Hollywood that goes hand-to-hand with the mentality behind the stereotypical gun-ho air behind the US military. Perhaps, Stone and Parker, along with posing the question over whether actors should keep their self-righteous yet uninformed mouths shut, are asking if actors should take note that they help sell the very same reckless mentality in their action films.


The puppets and sets are shot with the same type of directing approach often seen in movies such as The Rock or other Michael Bay crap. The song sequence relating missing a loved one to Bay's lack of directing ability makes it quite obvious to the viewers that the directing approach of Team America is deliberately self aware and, in itself, a thumbing of the nose to Hollywood.

In the end, this film is a wait-for-the-DVD rental only. I had such high, high hopes for this film, so the disappointment is all that more bitter to me. Go into the film not expecting much, and I promise you will be a bit more pleased with the product.