South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Trey Parker
Produced by	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Written by	Trey Parker Matt Stone Pam Brady Scott Rudin
Starring	Trey Parker Matt Stone Mary Kay Bergman Isaac Hayes George Clooney Eric Idle Mike Judge Dave Foley Minnie Driver Brent Spiner Howard McGillin
Music by	Trey Parker Matt Stone Marc Shaiman James Hetfield
Editing by	John Venzon
Studio	Comedy Central Films
Distributed by	USA/Canada Paramount Pictures International Warner Bros. Australia: Village Roadshow Canada: United International Pictures/Alliance Films
Release date(s)	United States/Canada June 30, 1999 Australia July 15, 1999 United Kingdom August 27, 1999 Japan August 10, 2000 (Tokyo)
Running time	81 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21,000,000
Gross revenue	$83,137,603[1]

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 American animated satirical comedy/musical film based on the animated television series South Park, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The film was directed by Parker, and also stars him, along with the rest of the regular voice cast from the series, including Stone, Mary Kay Bergman, and Isaac Hayes as Chef.

The film parodies animated Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and the West End musical Les Misérables, and satirizes the controversy surrounding the show itself. It features twelve songs by Parker and Marc Shaiman with additional lyrics by Stone. The song "Blame Canada" was nominated for an Academy Award and the song "Uncle Fucka" won an MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Performance.

It also was a box-office hit, making over $83 million worldwide, with a $21 million budget.

It was produced by Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. in association with Comedy Central. The film was rated R for pervasive vulgar language and crude sexual humor, and for some violent images by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Plot

On a Sunday morning in South Park, Colorado, third-graders Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, Kyle Broflovski and Eric Cartman go to see a Canadian film called Asses of Fire featuring their favorite comedy duo, Terrance and Phillip. The film turns out to be R-rated and consists of foul language and constant fart jokes, which enthrall and heavily influence the boys. They begin repeating profane words from the movie to their peers at school, who all take immediate interest and see the film as well. Stan's crush, Wendy, however, prefers to spend time with Gregory, a new, well-educated transfer student that Stan grows increasingly jealous of. As usual, he asks Chef for advice, but is given an absentminded suggestion to search for the clitoris. Though he does not know what this means, Stan nonetheless attempts to do so throughout the film, thinking it will help him to gain Wendy's love.

When the students' non-stop use of vulgarity becomes apparent, the school has them taken out of their regular classes to seek guidance from counselor Mr. Mackey. His plan to help the children stop cursing has no effect, and they all go to see the movie again after school. Shortly afterward, Cartman and Kenny get into a fight over whether or not it is possible to light farts on fire like Terrance does in the movie. Kenny does so, but ends up accidentally setting himself aflame. He is rushed to the hospital, where doctors attempt a surgery to revive him. They succeed only in replacing his heart with a baked potato, killing him almost instantly. After seeing the entrance to Heaven, Kenny's spirit is rejected (he opted to see Asses of Fire rather than attend church) and he instead falls into the fires of Hell.

Upon learning the boys have seen the movie again, Kyle's mother, Sheila Broflovski, leads their parents to form an organization called M.A.C. ("Mothers Against Canada") and captures Terrance and Phillip during their appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. When the United States refuses to release them, Canada responds by bombing the residence of the Baldwin brothers, causing the U.S. to wage war on Canada. Cartman becomes angry at Kyle's mom for starting the war, and loudly proclaims that she is a "bitch." Mrs. Broflovski overhears him badmouthing her and, as punishment, has a V-chip inserted into his brain, which will electrically shock him whenever he uses profanity.

The boys, using the teachings of their favorite figure skater, decide to form a group named "La Resistance" to save Terrance and Phillip, who are to be executed by electric chair during a USO show. At a meeting of the club, Gregory comes up with a daring plan to rescue Terrance and Phillip, and Stan, convinced that Wendy will like him more if he acts like Gregory, volunteers to go on the mission. Meanwhile, in Hell, Kenny discovers that Satan and Saddam Hussein, who are lovers, will be enabled to rule the Earth if Terrance and Phillip are executed. Kenny desperately appears as a ghost and tries to warn Cartman, but neither he, nor any of his friends, are fully convinced. Meanwhile, in Hell, Satan comes to terms with the fact that Saddam doesn't treat him well, and decides to rule the Earth without him. Saddam, interested in global conquest more than Satan's feelings, lies, and says he can change, effectively convincing Satan to bring him along.

The boys enlist a kid named The Mole to help them locate Terrance and Phillip. He dies in the process, but leads La Resistance to the USO show, where Big Gay Al is performing. The kids prepare to stop the execution, but their plan fails and it is set to commence onstage. Kyle and Stan desperately approach Mrs. Broflovski in one last attempt to halt the operation, but Kyle cannot bring himself to stand up to his mother, and she orders for the execution to begin. Suddenly, the Canadians retaliate with a surprise attack. Terrance and Phillip try to escape during the carnage, but the American forces and Mrs. Broflovski corner them. Stan, Kyle, and the rest of La Resistance confront them and Kyle finally finds enough courage to address his mother and asks that she stop waging war and be his normal mom again. She refuses and shoots Terrance and Phillip in the head.

Kenny's full face is seen for the first time, before he returns to Hell.

Suddenly, Satan and Saddam, along with host of demons emerge from Hell. Saddam soon takes charge and demands everyone bow down to him; Satan is too timid to stand up to Saddam, but Kenny arrives and insists that he must be assertive. However, Cartman discovers that a jolt he received earlier to his V-Chip gives him the power to fire electricity. He begins launching a series of vulgar rants, using this newly discovered power to attack Saddam. Satan, finally fed up, finishes him off by hurling him back into Hell. Satan thanks Kenny for his help, and in return, grants him one wish. Kenny wishes for everything to be returned to normal, like it was before the war. This of course means that Kenny will have to return to Hell, but he is more than willing to sacrifice himself for his friends. The town celebrates as everything is restored, and Wendy even dumps Gregory, much to Stan's excitement. Also, Kenny, because of his act of selflessness, earns entrance into Heaven.

Voice cast

Guest voices

Additional voices

Musical numbers

The soundtrack was released June 15, 1999 by Atlantic Records and Warner Music Group.

1. "Mountain Town"
2. "Uncle Fucka"
3. "It's Easy, Mmkay"
4. "Blame Canada"
5. "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch"
6. "What Would Brian Boitano Do?"
7. "Up There"
8. "La Resistance" (Medley)
9. "I Can Change"
10. "I'm Super"
11. "The Mole's Reprise"
12. "Mountain Town" (Reprise)
13. "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" (Reprise) by D.V.D.A. (end credits)
14. "Eyes of a Child" by Michael McDonald (end credits)

Release and reception

Critical reception

Film critics were generally enthusiastic about the film as an intelligent and entertaining piece of political satire. It has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 73 out of 100 rating, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", at Metacritic.^[2]

Box office

With a budget of 21 million, the film opened at #2 with a gross of $22,875,023 over the four-day Independence Day weekend from 2,128 theaters for an average of $5,867 per theater ($37,975,012 and an average of $9,649 over three days) and a total of $50,745,947 since its Wednesday launch. It ended up with a gross of $52,037,603 in the United States and Canada, with the 3-day opening making up 40.59% of the final domestic gross. It made an additional $31,100,000 internationally for a total of $83,137,603 worldwide, making it the eleventh highest-grossing film of 1999.

Home media

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was released on Video and DVD on November 23, 1999 in the US, and in the UK on the March 23, 2000. A UMD version for the Sony PSP has been released in the UK, no North American UMD release has been announced. On October 14, 2009, 10th anniversary edition of this movie was released on Blu-ray, 2009 with an audio commentary from Parker and Stone (among others).^[3]

Distribution:
Paramount Home Entertainment (USA)
CIC Video (Canada)
Warner Home Video (non-USA)
Roadshow Home Video (Australia and New Zealand, for Warner Home Video)

Cultural impact

The movie's use of profanity gained it a spot in the 2001 edition of Guinness World Records for "Most Swearing in an Animated Film" (399 profane words, including 146 uses of fuck^[4], 79 uses of shit, and 66 uses of bitch, 128 offensive gestures, and 221 acts of violence). In effect, one every six seconds. In the song "Uncle Fucka" the word "fuck" is said 31 times.

There is an urban myth that the film was also banned in Iraq, for its depiction of Saddam Hussein as Satan's abusive homosexual lover. Because of the film's content, however, distribution was never attempted in Iraq. ^[5]

While the real Saddam was on trial for genocide charges in 2006, Matt Stone joked that the U.S. military was showing the movie repeatedly to the former dictator as a form of torture.^[6] Parker and Stone were also given a signed photo of Saddam Hussein by the American soldiers.^[7]

Awards and nominations

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Blame Canada", losing to "You'll Be in My Heart", a Tarzan song by Phil Collins. In response, Parker and Stone ridiculed him in two consecutive episodes of the series' fourth season ("Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" and "Timmy 2000"). In DVD commentary, Parker states "we were fully expecting to lose, just not to Phil Collins".

Mary Kay Bergman, the actress who sang "Blame Canada" in the film, did not do likewise at the televised award show, having committed suicide in November 1999. In her place, comedian Robin Williams (a friend of composer Marc Shaiman) performed the number instead. Anne Murray, however, was the one originally approached to sing the song (which contained lyrics deriding her as a "bitch"), but she declined due to a prior commitment. During the telecast, Williams appeared onstage with a full chorus line and inserted the lyrics of the song's reprise from "La Resistance" within the performance. Stone and Parker attended the ceremony as well, clad in dresses akin to the ones worn by Jennifer Lopez at the Grammys and Gwyneth Paltrow at the 72nd Academy Awards.^[8]

Another track from the movie, "Uncle Fucka", won an MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Performance; Parker and Stone accepted the award, and thanked the audience for "not nominating Phil Collins".

• American Film Foundation: Nominated for The E Pluribus Unum Award For Feature Film
• Nominated for 3 Annie Awards,
  • Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature
  • Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for Mary Kay Bergman as "Sheila Broflovski"
  • Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production
• MTV Movie Award: Won, Best Musical Performance for Uncle Fucka
• Chicago Film Critics Association: Won for Best Original Score
• New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Won for Best Animated Feature
• Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards: Nominated for Best Animated Film
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Won for Best Music
• Motion Picture Sound Editors: Won for Best Sound Editing - Music - Animation, Nominated for Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature
• Online Film Critics Society Awards: Won for Best Original Score
• Satellite Awards: Nominated for Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media and Best Original Song for Quiet Mountain Town

Lists and records

• The film has been nominated by the American Film Institute for their list of the Greatest American Musicals.^[9]
• In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted this the 13th greatest comedy film of all time.
• In 2001, Terry Gilliam selected it as one of the ten best animated films of all time.^[10]
• In 2006, South Park finished fifth in the United Kingdom's Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Films vote.^[11]
• In 2006, the film was ranked number 5 on Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Films.
• Readers of Empire Magazine, in a 2006 poll, voted it the 166th greatest film of all time.
• In 2008, the film was included in Entertainment Weekly's list of the "25 Movie Sequels We'd Line Up to See"^[12] and "The Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years".^[13]
• The film is fifth on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
• IGN named it the sixth greatest animated film of all time in their Top 25 list.^[14]

See also

• South Park
• Canada–United States relations
• List of musicals
• Censorship
• List of films that most frequently use the word "fuck"

References

External links

• Official website
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut at the Internet Movie Database
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut at Allmovie
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut at Rotten Tomatoes

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